Hell Verse Unbidden
by NeonZangetsu
Summary: In death he was sent to Soul Society. In death, he was tricked into Hell. In death, he despaired. Trapped for centuries without end he waited and suffered; until the day someone broke into Hell. Takes place in the Fourth Bleach Movie! NarutoxHarem! EPIC!
1. Condemnation

**A/N: WARNING! You MUST watch the fourth bleach movie, Hell Chapter, to understand what is going on! Also, know that some rules have been bent somewhat in order to allow such a chance meeting between two of the greatest (if not strangest) heroes in anime. That is all. Again, if you have not seen, or at least heard of, the fourth bleach movie, you are doomed to languish within the depths of your own confusion. Otherwise...**

**ENJOY!**

**Condemnation**

_"Wait."_

Ichigo froze.

His footfalls ceased, sliding over the ashen plains that comprised one of the many lower levels of hell. Beside him, Kokuto paused as well, his lone eye shifting toward Kurosaki as the vizard shifted; chestnut brown orbs sweeping across the lifeless horizon to find the source of the sound. The urge to find his sister, to rescue Yuzu, till burned like a fire in the back of his mind and he was about to dismiss it as his imagination when-

_"Over here."_

The voice was coming from just over the nearest hillock. It was faint, soft, little more than a broken whisper; a pained hiss, a stammered stuttering of sound so marginal that, were it not for the wind, they never would have heard it at all. Before his better judgement could tell him otherwise, Kurosaki had crested the hill in a single leap. Perhaps his sister was on the other side of this rise! Perhaps...

...not.

What Kurosaki Ichigo found there, was not his sister. Instead, hanging just over that hill of deadened, ashen plants, the sight of it left him breathless.

_"Here."_

There, chained to a pillar of wrought iron in the midst of the ashen field, was a young man.

He lay prone on the floor, facing away from them with his arms raised above his head and chained to the wall. The prisoner's head hung down limply, and the back of his robe was ripped open from so many whiplashes across his back that his skin was red with blood. Ichigo would have thought him dead; were it not for the quivering of his shoulders and the soft, racking gasp that escaped those chapped lips:

_"Come closer, shinigami." _

Mute, Ichigo complied. He could sense Kokuto's displeasure, the warrior's silent urge that they needed to press onward_-a desire that he shared-_but he simply could not bear to ignore the plight of this poor wretch who called out to him so. And so, he approached. And as he drew near, he was able to make out the features of this stranger who called a strange call to him; he who knew that he was a shinigami,

He was a handsome fellow, if intense. His blond hair was disheveled, his blue eyes intelligent, his features balanced. Whisker marks tripled each cheek, cheeks that had once dimpled with a constantly bright and enthused grin; no matter the situation or mission. Now, he was intense. His face had hardened, his visage freed of the baby fat that had plagued him in his younger years. Chiseled and nigh but expressionless, that face bore a series of thin red lines from left ear to right, drooping down his chin and neck and lips lips that remained pursed in a perpetual grimace as the vizard drew nearer.

And as he drew nearer, Kurosaki Ichigo found his breath stolen away. The "robe" was in fact, not a robe at all. Tattered though it was, he could make out the remnants of that which looked to be a badge-perhaps some sort of insignia-tied across the man's arm. And there, pitted and scarred, little more than a shell of its former self, was a sword. The blade had likely seen better days, he supposed, as he gazed upon the weathered blue-clothed hilt, and the strange tsubasa that had the etchings of flowing waves emblazoned into its hilt.

The shinigami who wielded it, had likely seen better days as well.

Because the "robe" was a shihakusho. Because this "badge" strongly resembled that of a_-former-_lietuenant and the "sword" tucked into his sash was not a sword at all but the weapon which all soul reapers wielded, a zanpakuto. The question remained however, how had he gotten her. Unable to help himself, Ichigo stretched out his hand, reaching a few yars to touch one of the chains that bound the man's neck.

"He's still breathing-

Without warning, the chained body _lurched upright._ Sapphire eyes burned with feverish delight, shining with a light that seemed almost demonic in origin and nature. His gaze flickered briefly, glancing upon Kokuto as one would a fly, then fixating upon Kurosaki Ichigo with a mind-numbing intensity. So great was this suddern fervor, that the vizard, great warrior that he was, drew back in revulsion.

_"I knew it."_ The prisoner hissed through clenched teeth. "I _knew_ that one of you had come here." Scouring him for any sign of identification, and, finding none, they clouded, a deep, murkish gold in annoyance. "Wait, you're not from_-ah."_ His eyes brightened knowingly, gleaming a strange mixture of saffron and sapphire and scarlet. "I know you _you yes, I know you quite well." _He tittered softly to himself. "Shuren was speaking of you while he flogged me, gloating actually. So, you must be Kurosaki Ichigo then, I take it?"

"You know me?" Ichigo blinked.

"Not really, no. Not personally." The blond stranger shook his head, speaking rapidly, and incoherently. Had he gone mad from lying here so long, devoid of any contact save that of his tormentors? Was his mind so fragmented that he was utterly incapable of answering any of their questions?

"Here to save your sister, are you?" He asked, the words cutting through all the glib and guile. "How noble. Yes, very noble indeed. It's a shame that you're going to fail."

Fury washed Ichigo to his toes.

_"What the hell was that?"_

The chained shinigami laughed; it was a soft, raspy sound and devoid of mirth. Apparently, he wasn't completely mad after all.

Not yet, at least.

"You heard me, dumbass. You think your sisters the only one Shuren dragged down here?" He shook his head, his eyes hardening into blackened specks of scarlet. "If so, then you'd be wrong. _Dead wrong._ See, I was once human too, much like yourself. I had a life, I had happiness, hell, I almost had some semblance of purose before all of this." He gestured mutely to the world around them, his shackles rattling harshly from the movement. "Ah, but that was _before._ That was _before_ the love of my life was taken from me, kidnapped, dragged down to the very depths which you now so foolishly trample, unknowing, uncaring, unbecoming."

He spat, the spittle falling just short of the young ryoka's feet before it smoldered away into nothingness.

"I came after them, of course." The stranger sighed, wistfully in his delusion. "Like a fool, I chased them down to the depths of hell. Just as they had planned." He inclined his head a fraction of an inch his eyes pained, his features somber. "You see, I have certain_...powers._ They'd hoped to use those powers of mine to wrench open the Hell Gate and reclaim their fractured existence."

"And?" Ichigo found himself asking, despite Kokuto's indignant sound of offense.

_"And he let her die."_ Kokuto's words were ice, his words harsh, his visage glacial as he stepped back into view. Ichigo gawped; he'd been so immersed in the boy's tale that he had forgotten all about his stoic guide into the underbelly of the underworld. A pained cry of desperation and disbelief drew his attention back to the boy; his features frozen in a rictus of fury.

Kokuto had spoken truly.

"And you let her _die?"_ Ichigo growled softly, and on a sudden, he felt anger. It welled up in him with such force that it almost staggered him, like it had been there for so long biding its time, a fury he had nursed and hidden away but never acknowledged. The sudden realization that he was even _considering_ this man's words brought a wave of rage to his mind with the ferocity of a great and dark tempest. Despite his wounds, Kurosaki Ichigo lurched; despite the look in those eyes, pleading for him to stop, the anger won over him and he yanked Tensa Zangetsu out of Kokuto's gentle grip.

"Just like that?" He repeated harshly, his words gravel, his features flint. "And you let someone important to you...die?"

"And I refused!" The shinigami snapped back, his words little more than a feral snarl. "What else could I do? Unleash the power of the underworld upon the spirit realm, all for what, the one I loved! I could not! I will not! They may _think_ that they have broken me, but I will remain strong! I shall stand steadfast! For her sake, as well as my own, I _will not_ yield to their demands, as _she_ demanded of _me!"_

_**"!"**_

His head drooped suddenly, at that, his voice breaking, his eyes forlorn.

"For her sake," He whispered softly, repeating the words as if they were a mantra. "For her sake, I refused. And I fought them." His visage twisted, his features scrunching up, as if he were trying his utmost not to show weakiness, his weariness, his exhaustion. "I fought them, and I did not prevail. I fell, and they held me and I _watched_ them slit her throat and I felt my heart break into a thousand pieces, and still I did, and still I do, as she asked. I. Do. Not. Yield."

He glared up at Kurosaki and Kokuto, daring them to protest. Daring them, to say that they too, would deny the final wish of one important to them, if _they_ would sacrifice the world, if they would cast it all aside in order to save a single soul, a soul who would rather _perish,_ than allow such a reality to exist. The pair exchanged a glance, but whatever their thoughts were, they were their own.

"Set me free, substitute." The chained reaper begged at last twin orbs of soulful cerulean fixating upon Kurosaki Ichigo. "If it is within your power, release me from my chains, and free me from this bondage so that I might seek an end." At the strawberry's questioning stare, he chuckled hoarsely. "I am already dying a slow death; dying of a broken heart. Their is nothing for me here. Perhaps in the Soul Society but...no." He shook his head slowly, rattling his chains with each passing sweep. "Time has passed me by, and I have not aged a day since I first came here. It is best that I die, here, forgotten and unmourned by my comrades rather than-

**CLANG!**

His body jerked upright as Tensa Zangetsu rapped against one of the cufflings on his wrist, showering him with sparks as the sword struck steel. It cracked, but nothing more, and remained otherwise intact. A fleeting, sputtering hope shone in those eys for the briefest instant, only to flicker out when he realized that his chains had not been broken, only damaged. Instead, he regarded Ichigo, then Kokuto with a quizzical stare.

"Just like that?" He asked, dumbfounded. "You believe me?"

"You're certainly a strange one." He murmurred softly. "Isn't he, Kyuubi?" The air rustled between them, and for a moment, his eyes glazed over. It happened so quickly that Ichigo thought he might have imagined it-did his features seem rougher now somehow-and then the blond boy was peering at him once more, nodding softly to himself. Why, it looked like he was even smiling, somewhat forlornly, but smiling nonetheless.

"Kyuubi?" Ichigo blinked rapidly, impatience souring his features. "Who the hell is-

The blond shook his head tersely-discussion closed-and frowned.

"Trust me, you _don't_ want to know."

"R-Right."

"Anyway, the name's Naruto." The scarred shinigami introduced himself amiacably enough. "Uzumaki Naruto, lieutenant, ah, I mean, former lieutenant of Thirteenth Division, at your service. Now, if you wouldn't mind stepping back and trying again, Kurosaki-san?" He tested the shackle of his left arm and it rattled weakly. "If you can just crack this one, I might be able to-

"Wait, how do we even know he's actually who he says he is?" Kokuto demanded turning toward Ichigo. "We're wasting time here, Ichigo! Or have you forgotten, that its your _sister_ we've come here to save, not him?" He let the statement hand, unadorned between the two of them and the scarred shinigami. There was something strange about the man known as Kokuto in that instant, something desperate, almost frantic, sinister even...

But no, not Ichigo, and certainly not Kokuto, expected what came next.

"Very well then." The blond nodded. "We're running short on time, so I suppose a demonstration is in order."The blond shinigami laughed; it was a soft, whispery sound. Then his muscles bulged, his eyes grew narrow; his entire being straining against the chains that bound him. Sweat beaded forth from his face from the strain, from the exertion as he pushed his frail body to its limits and beyond, just to move the fingers of his right hand, just for a moment...

...they brushed the hilt of his zanpakuto.

"Sweep across the seas and sunder the skies." He hissed, eyes widening as the dim glow from the battered blade pulsed, building into a blinding hue of safforn, sapphire, and scarlet. Sweeping across the hilt, devouring the blade, it erupted into a blazing cylinder of brilliance that spread across the chains and scoured the hilt clean of wear and tear, as it gave birth to something magnificent.

_**"Yarinami!"**_

_**A/N: Hope you liked! And don't forget to review! Yes, this fic will most likely be a NarutoxHarem fic, and it will take place during and after the movie, which may, or may not include the Fake Karakura Town Arc (Not sure where the movie fits in the timeline here, if anyone knows, please tell me) But while it might include the recent filler arc, WILL include the current Fullbring arc and will extend far and beyond as the manga progresses. Thanks again to Hollow Schutte for giving me this idea!**_

Yarinami=Spear Wave.


	2. Resurrection

**A/N: WARNING! You MUST watch the fourth bleach movie, Hell Chapter, to understand what is going on! Also, know that some rules have been bent somewhat in order to allow such a chance meeting between two of the greatest (if not strangest) heroes in anime. That is all. Again, if you have not seen, or at least heard of, the fourth bleach movie, you are doomed to languish within the depths of your own confusion. Also, I've tweaked Naruto's release phrase A bit. Otherwise...**

**ENJOY!**

**Resurrection**

Whent he dust cleared, Kokuto was thunderstruck.

The chains surrounding Naruto had been shattered.

All of them.

They lay about him, pooling at his feet in a puddle of rust and ruination, clattering softly as they fell from his form. Slouching, low to the ground, he stood woodenly not taking enough care as he found his footing. He did not speak. He did not rejoice. Instead, he simply stood; numbed, dettacched, taking in his surroundings with an eerie nonchalance bordering on outright dejection.

"So this is what freedom tastes like." He murmurred softly. "It has been so long, I'd nearly forgotten_...what it felt like."_

There, resting at their feet, lay the blade. There, at their feet, lay Naruto's zanpakuto. And as the sinner watched, Naruto bent to one knee, touching his fingers to its hilt for a second time; curling them around the cloth wrapped handle, the action of which caused the blade to undergo a _second_, startling transformation.

"Sweep through the sea and sunder the stars." He intoned solemnly, eyes narrowing as the dim glow from the shining sword pulsed, building into a blinding hue of blackened saffron, sapphire, and scarlet. Sweeping across the hilt, devouring the blade, it erupted into a blazing cylinder of brilliance that spread across the remnants of the chains and scoured the awakened hilt clean of wear and tear, as it gave birth to something magnificent.

_**"Yaminari."**_ He chanted softly.

Fog burst forth like smoke rolling from burning green leaves. It drifted away, revealing something like a rod that appeared from precious gemstone: crystal shot through with veins of purple, bright blue, and startling verdant green. Sparks shone across its surface, flowing from tip to tapered tip; it shone like the sun and at the same time roiled like the great abyss that was the sea, terrible in its brilliance.

It was not a spear this time; because it was the color of amethyst.

It was a _scythe_, Kokuto realized, his singular gaze lingering_-almost fearfully-_upon the naked edge of the weapon. Judging by the name, he'd half expected it to be a _spear,_ not an elemental weapon of such a deadly calibre. Naruto reached down for it, his fingers clenching tightly upon the azure wrappings that encircled the pole and pommel. Without an explanation, Naruto shouldered the scythe, cradling it in the crook of his neck as one might expect of a weapon of such size. And yet, there was more to his initial release; as his body shimmered softly under the weight of the scythe.

Glittering, opalescent pearl armor now adjourned his arms and shoulders; forming a protective sheathe they wrapped around the entirety of his upper body and torso. Streaks of red and garnet could also be seen within the edges of his tattered shihakusho, lending it an almost regal air despite the dismal state to which it had fallen. Framed by these ornamental furnishings, one could not help but wonder what-if any-his second release would be.

Only then, as his shikai hung around him like a shroud, did he react to his sudden lack of bondage.

_"Huh?"_

Naruto blinked touching a hand to his chest, to the place where they, the chains, had once been bound. Instead of cold, unfeeling steel, there was only supple human flesh. He shouldered his weapon, his _Yarinami_ glinting brightly in the dull evening light. Kokuto glowered at him. _Murderously_. It wasn't fair. How was it that he could this ex-shinigami could be set free, simply by releasing his zanpakutou after a single crack had appeared in the chains? _How?_ Did Kurosaki Ichigo truly have the power to break the chains then, after all?

"I'm free." Naruto blinked, slowly. _"Free."_ He laughed, holding out his arms, his sword, as though he half-expected to be imprisoned again at any moment. When the guardian of hell did not reappear, when it did not drag him down to the abyss to languish there forevermore, he smiled. When no _Kushanard_ caim to claim him, he dared raise his gaze, he dared to look Kurosaki Ichigo square in the eye.

"Thank you, Kurosaki." His armour rattled softly as he offered his shoulders in a shrug, a recompense for his temerity. "You don't know what it means to me to be free of that accursed chain. Now, let us be off." Without further prompt or preamble from either, Naruto pressed on ahead. Leaving both Ichigo and Kokuto to hsten after him lest they be left behind.

"Oi!" Kokuto shouted, irate. "Don't go off by yourself!"

"Well, at least he said thank you." Ichigo muttered to himself, somewhat dumbstruck by the nonchalance of the warrior walking before him. Was it just his imagination, or did his reaitsu feel different, on a sudden? It felt, rough. Dark. Sinister, almost; were it not for the light and breezy smile tugging at the blonde's lips as he resolutely set the pace before them. Suddenly hesitant, Kurosaki allowed his pace to slow. That strange, murky gleam in his eyes just now...what had that been?

Surely Naruto didn't have...surely he wasn't a...

As if sensing the small amount of stunned intent leaking toward him, Naruto turned toward Ichigo and cocked his head. He stopped in his tracks, his face slowly appearing over his shoulder as he curiously regarded his fellow shinigami. A look of confused irritation crossed his eye as he regarded the unwitting pair; the stunned vizard and this sulking sinner approaching behind him, then it narrowed abruptly.

_"Hold." _he commanded suddenly. _"Kurosaki."_

Ichigo nearly slammed into him, so abrupt was his cessation. And still Naruto stared at him, stared past him, through him, his gaze fixating upon Kokuto. The sinner blinked, a slow, disbelieving blink as the blond unlimbered his scythe; tipping the deadly craft of decapitation in his direction. He held it that way for quite some time; refusing to move, to speak, or, even to breathe.

"I have a question for your companion."

When he _did_ speak, his words burbled, escalating into a long, drawn out hiss.

"Are you certain we can trust this one?" Naruto asked Ichigo. "Kurosaki?"

"O-Of course!" The sinner stammered with raised hands, his eyes widening in a sudden surge of relief and exasperation. "Jeez! Don't do that! You had me worried for a second there, idiot! Of course you can trust me! We're on the same side, after all!" His gaze locked upon Ichigo, pleadingly. "Isn't that right, Ichigo?"

"The same side?" Naruto scoffed. "What does that make you, then?"

"We're allies, of course!"

"Are we?" Naruto asked blackly. "Funny you should mention that. I don't ever recall seeing you as an ally, _sinner."_ He spat the word as if burned his tongue simply to speak of it. "You must've committed grievous sins to come here, and for that, and that reason alone, I don't trust you. How are we to know that you won't turn on us, the instant we've rescued Kurosaki's sister, hmm? How are we to know-

A hand, placed upon his shoulder, silenced him.

_"I_ trust him." Ichigo reaffirmed, with determination. "That's enough for me." Brown met blue, and for a moment, neither would yield. Determination met resolve, and neither, neither wanted to break. Neither, wanted to be the first to give in. Kurosaki Ichigo, with his casual trusting of those that he believe to be kind-hearted. Uzumaki Naruto, with the hard-won cynicisim that hell had given him over the centuries; the inability to trust and be trusted in turn. Eventually, finally, one of them yielded.

Naruto lowered his zanpakuto.

"Very well."

He nodded towards Kokuto, the latter folding his arms in displeasure at the hesitant sentiment. If Naruto noticed this, he gave little indication of it. Instead, he returned his attention to the strawberry that protected Karakura Town, his sapphire gaze falling upon the fair haired soul reaper once more. He peered into those eyes of chestnut brown for a moment, as though searching for something.

At length, the anger leached from his features.

"I will trust your judgement on this, Kurosaki Ichigo." He nodded, suddenly stern, leading them up to the nearest rise. "And I pray that you are right. However, that is not the only matter I wished to speak of; in regards to your power."

Ichigo frowned, skepticism souring his expression.

"And that would be?"

"I'm getting to that." Naruto backed a few steps away from the substitute soul reaper, and held out his hand for silence. "But first, a question." Turning to face his fellow soul reaper once more, concern coloured his countenance. "Why is it that I can feel your reaitsu slipping away? When I first sensed your prescence in Hell, you had a great deal of reaitsu; now, only a shadow of that power remains. Why is that, Kurosaki Ichigo?"

"That's-

The shinigami daiko turned aside.

_"That's because I won't be a shinigami for much longer."_

"Explain." Naruto stated flatly, all humour falling from his features. And so Ichigo did. In the space of a few minutes, he outlined the begining of his struggles as a shinigami as an existing substitute soul reaper, to a vizard. Of his mastery of his hollow powers, of his struggle in Hueco Muendo to rescue a dear, dear friend, and of his return to Karakura Town to defeat the man who had masterminded it all from the very beginning; Sosuke Aizen. Ending with the use of the **_Mugetsu_**, resulting in the slow, but inexorable loss of his shinigami powers at an unspecified date.

"Aizen?" Naruto's expression turned incredulous. "The last I saw of him, he was fuku-taichou of the fifth, not the captain. Either I've been gone for far too long or that no-good weasely bastard pulled something while I was away." Then, with concern edging into his words, "Wait, did something happen to Hirako-taichou? What about Mashiro-chan? Or Hiyori-san and Lisa-tan? You said they trained you. Did they survive the war?"

"You'd have to ask Urahara-san."

"EH?" Naruto gawked. "You mean he's still _alive _after all this?"

Ichigo nodded and continued his explanation.

He hadn't minded the loss of them back then, that is until Shuren came from hell to kidnape his sisters. Naruto waved away fruther explanation as they walked, his eyes dark with much thought as they cleared the rise of the next hill, maintaining a steady pace that allowed them to converse as they moved. When at last the explanation had finished Naruto gave a nod and stopped abruptly, forcing Kurosaki to do the same.

"But before we go any further...

"But before we go any further, I feel that I should at least warn you." With that, Naruto dabbed a hand across his face, the fingers flowing into a claw, trailing a strange, milky white substance; molding its likeness across his visage. As Ichigo looked on, it reformed, slipping into the strange semblance of a human skull. That is, if a human's skull bore two horns jutting outward at awkward angles and fangs in the likeness of a feral beast.

**"!"**

_**"Do not use your hollowfication anymore."**_ He warned, his words dampened through the mask of the grim. _**"If you continue to wield your mask, your hollow will go berserk and with it so will you. Should that happen, there will be nothing that you or I can do to save you." **_With a flick of his fingers, he banished the white mask, its streaks of blackened garnet fading away into the winds.

"Do you understand?"

Ichigo gawped.

"You're a-

"No." Naruto corrected harshly. "I was, once. But not anymore. Now, I don't know what I am anymore. I am neither hollow nor soul reaper nor vizard. I'm certainly not human anymore, if that's what you're thinking." He tittered softly to himself. "Once, I was human. Then, I became a shinigami. Then, I became a denizen of hell. I am everything and I am nothing, Kurosaki Ichigo. I am all, and I am naught."

Abruptly, he laughed; it was a deep, throaty sound.

"You can stop staring now." In the wake of Ichigo's silence, however, Naruto's mirth faded. "I'm not going to bite."

"But how-

"Perhaps it's the hells miasma." He offered. "Perhaps its the "guest" that dwells within the depth of my soul." Mute, he offered his shoulders in a shrug; for to one who had languished in the depths of Hell, such matters were irrelevant. "Does it matter? Knowing what I am and what I'm not won't bring us any closer to rescuing your sister, now, will it?"

"Couldn't have said it any better myself." Kokuto sighed brushing in between the two of them. "But that doesn't matter anymore, now does it?"

_**"?"**_

He pointed, dead ahead, drawing the gaze of the two shinigami.

_"We're here."_

There, in the distance, they could see it.

There, in the distance, standing atop a massive skeleton. There, in the distance, overlooking the massive plain that stretched out before them. There, in the distance, looming over the pool of lava, over which a single, solitary cage hung, he appeared. Wreathed in a cloak of ornate looking rags, swirls of fire spiraling outward from his from, he waited and watched for their eventual approach. There he alighted, clasping her slumbering form by its neck until the precise moment that they drew within sight.

"Welcome to hell!" He laughed, as they drew within earshot. "Kurosaki Ichigo!"

And then, he dropped her.

_"Shuuuuuuuren!"_ Ichigo bellowed, bulleting forward, streaks of jet-black reaitsu already dampening his form, deafening him to Naruto's hoarse cry of warning. _Too late._ Within an inhuman shriek, Kurosaki Ichigo lunged, flying forth to snatch his sister from the jaws of death, no matter the cost. _Too late._ He crashed to the ground, curled inward in an attempt to shield her from the impact of the fall. _Too late._ He saw the chain dangling from her chest, the lifeless listing of the eyes and neck, the betrayal of her body, that he had fought so hard to save; her body and her soul, and he had failed them both' because he had failed to save her.

"No." He whispered, blinking away the tears as they came; hot and stinging. "No." A cry was stuck somewhere inside him, lost in the dark emptiness of his throat. "No." He stood woodenly not taking enough care. "No." The corpse slid from his lap, its head smacking roughly against the concrete bridge. "No." Yuzu's limbs were loose, graceless, lying in an uncomfortable position.

Just like any other corpse.

"NOOOOOO_**OOOOOOORGH!"**_

"Don't!" Naruto cried, only to feel the icy sting of a blade plunging through his chest. He gagged, coughed, and blood fountained up from his lips. He touched a hand to_-what a hole it was-_his chest, and his eyes bulged with comprehension. Weakly, he turned, his scythe serving only to crash harmlessly against the chains of his attacker. He turned, an empty gaze toward Ichigo, as his body exploded in a plume of darkened pressure that bleached his skin white and sent his reaitsu skyrocketing.

"You...idiot...

Naruto lost focus then; because the black blade had been pulled from his chest with such force that he found himself staggered. Harsh laughter sounded behind him as a boot pushed against his back and shoved him forward. The scythe slipped from his fingers, the zanpakuto scraping wordlessly across the earth, shrieking its frustration as it shrank back into its sealed state and lay there, discarded.

"Yo, you alright?" A familair voice called out from just above his line of vision. Flopping onto his stomach, ignoring the pain of his wounds, Naruto turned toward the sound. His eyes narrowed helplessly as he saw the sinner who stood above him; a bandaged face lit amidst the fires of the furnace, twisted into a cruel sneer. He'd been right all along _he knew it he should have known it should have seen should have realized-_

"You were right about me." Kokuto laughed as he stood over the dying shinigami. "All along." Still snickering, he turned toward Ichigo, or, rather, the hollowfied beast that the boy had become, grinning widely. Through the corner of his peripheals, Naruto watched the sinner advance on Ichigo, stepping over Shuren's dessicated corpse. A ruse. It had all been a ruse, he saw it now. All for the sake of him, for the sake of Kokuto, he'd used Shuren, and now, discarded him like so much refuse.

"Yo, Ichigo!" He sneered. "Sorry about your sister. Now, break my chains like you promised you would!"

_**"RARGH!"**_

He watched, helpless to interfere, as Kurosaki's friends arrived. Rukia, Uryuu, Renji, one by one they arrived. One by one, they realized the extent of Kokuto's betrayal, and, one by one, they fell, cut down by his blade. Ichigo screamed and snarled his anger; thrusting his horned head forward in a fit of frenzied fury. He tried to speak, tried to say what needed to be said, but as he looked on, all that emerged from his throat was an empty rasping sound.

A bright ball of crimson light began to form in front of Ichigo's face, the sphere of deadly energy swirling powerfully in front of the ghastly grin of his mask. Kokuto's eye widened in surprise; he knew that the Vizards were part Hollow – in much the same way that an Arrancar was part Shinigami – but he hadn't known that they could use Hollow techniques.

"Yes, that's it!" He cackled wildly! "Break my chains!"

His eye widened in barely contained glee as the hollow's _cero _bellowed forward at him. It was too close to dodge and he had no intention of doing so, with or without his dominant hand, he'd simply reflect the attack. All he would do was stand in silent celebration as the wide beam of destructive energy roared towards him. It plowed forward with a sonorously, ready to obliterate the ties that bound.

The attack never landed.

Kokuto gasped in shock as another leapt in, batting the c_ero_ away as if it were nothing. The new fighter glanced down at her hand, now slightly charred from the attack, and scoffed before running it back through her ragged blond hair. Naruto blinked the spots away from his eyes and struggled to see. All he could discern was darkened, tan skin, full hips, a massive white sword, and a ridiculous lack of armor and exposure of skin. All the while he hung on the edge of the abyss, about to plummet into his demise once more.

"You...**!"** Kokuto snarled. "Stop interfering!"

"I already told you," The stranger spoke softly with a voice like liquid. "If anyone is to be freed from this hell, it will be me." She bent down, scooping Yuzu off the floor, which only set Kurosaki off further as another sonorous bellow filled the perpetual evening.

"Take this one," She murmurred, flinging Kurosaki's sister onto Naruto as if she weighed next to nothing. She waited, watched, as his arms curled about her apparently lifeless form, then she lashed out with a hardened boot of white armour.

"What-

_Then she turned._

She turned, her boot filling the corner of Naruto's peripheals. Black spots speckled before his vision as it lashed out, sending him hurtling across the cavernous floor. His head kissed an iron root and, for a moment, blackness threatened to overcome him. He groaned; it was a soft, whispery round. Something must have happened then; as he lay the last of his breaths away, as a dim, whitish blue glow filled his vision.

"NO!" Kokuto screamed. "Damn you, Halibel!"

With the last of his strength, Naruto couldn't help but laugh. His chest felt as though it had surely been crushed; and it was all he could do to draw breath. Through a dim haze he felt himself being lifted into the sky and wondered why that was. He couldn't feel Kurosaki's hollow reaitsu anymore; there was only the most base, lingering traces of it, as the substitute soul reaper ascended beside him, borne aloft by some unknown spell in accompanyment to Naruto's own.

"Seems like you lose this round, sinner."

Then, and only then, did he allow the blessed blackness to take him/

_**A/N: Hope you liked! And don't forget to review! Yes, this fic will most likely be a NarutoxHarem fic, and it will take place during and after the movie, which in my opinion, takes place after the arrancar arc, but before Ichigo loses his powers and before that strange filler arc with Nozomo. (Still not sure exactly where the movie fits in the timeline here, if anyone knows, please tell me) But while it ****might**** include the recent filler arc, it WILL include the current Fullbring arc and will extend far and beyond as the manga progresses. Thanks again to Hollow Schutte for giving me this idea, and I hoped you liked the tweaks I made to the actual movie!**_

**Yarinami=Spear Wave.**

**Now, here is a preview of some of the stuff you'll be seeing in the upcoming chapters! Consider it a teaser trailer, if you will.**

"I'd forgotten what it's like to see a Hollowfication from the outside," Naruto whistled softly. "Scary stuff. But,"

"If you want to see a hollow," His fingers clenched, reaching up to his visage and gathering there in a peal of cerulean and saffron.

**_"Then watch closely."_**

_"Ha! I didn't think shinigami fought together!"_

_"We don't," _came Naruto's reply as he stood from the rubble caused by Ichigo's _cero. _His Vizard mask was on now, the red and white streaks lining the left side of his face while the right half remained gone, shattered by Kokuto's blast. His clothing was tattered slightly and his left sleeve was completely gone. His gold and black eyes were still burning on the sinner ahead of him.

"I see," Kokuto said as he coldly regarded his Shinigami opponent. "So you used your hollow mask to strengthen your _reiatsu_ and block my _attack."_

Naruto said nothing as he lifted his left hand up to the exposed side of his face. With a swift movement, the missing half of his mask re-grew as he waved his palm over it, the white bone moving like milk as it molded itself into a ghastly skull.

"I'm not like him, you know." Naruto said as he twirled the spear overhead, lightning crackling from its streamlined tip. "My hollow is my ally, not my enemy."

"Oh?" Kokuto sneered. "Is that so-

_Whump._

Naruto looked the sinner directly in the eye and released a dense wave of _reiatsu._

Kokuto's mouth hung open in shock as he and those surrounding him fell to their knees. His eyes were staring straight into Naruto's, the expression on his face a mixture of fear, fury, confusion and defeated dejection. His jaw started working but he couldn't force any sound to come out.

Kokuto stopped in his tracks, his face slowly appearing over his shoulder as he curiously regarded his once fallen opponent. A look of irritation crossed his single eye as it regarded the recovering Shinigami behind him.

"I see," he said, leaving his back turned as he pulled his zanpakuto back out from the nothingness. "So you still think that you can—"

Kokuto's single eye went wide as his right arm was severed from his body, the limb now falling away from him in a flash. The gloved fingers were wriggling slightly as the nerve endings within them struggled to receive signal from his brain once more, dropping the sword that they once held as his hand groped on blindly. Kokuto lunged forward, his left arm stretched out in an attempt to grab and wield the fallen blade.

Uzumaki Naruto buzzed into view, his body blocking the Arrancar's weapon, his eyes glaring out coldly from behind the frightening grin of a hollowfied mask. With a hiss, he swung his zanpakuto backwards, a white _Getsuga _rocketing out from the tip of his sword and incinerating both the Espada's arm and his vision within the pure energy.

His uniform in tatters, Naruto marched forward at the frightened sinner. Kokuto was retreating, his feet shuffling backwards as his eye trained on the Vizard in front of him. Kokuto knew that he could resort to another form of attack and continue his fight, but his mind was inexplicably filled with fear as he looked into the resolve-filled eyes of his opponent.

And then, then Naruto smiled.

**_"Bankai."_**

* * *

><p>"I don't like to look on the bright side." Naruto whispered. "Because when you do, you realize it's not there and it just makes you sadder."<p>

"But there's always a bright side." Inoue protested.

"I was a sinner." Naruto answered, his eyes stern, his expression dour. "For me, there certainly wasn't-

She cut him off by thumbing his chin back to face her, her lips touching his softly. He hesitated for a moment, her heart sinking for a moment, before he leaned gently into her. His right hand came to rest on her thigh, his left coming up to cup her cheek and she placed both of hers on his chest and she fell forward into him.

"Naruto-san, I-

He nodded.

* * *

><p>"And who is this?"<p>

Suddenly, all eyes stretched toward him; because the bedraggled blond next to Ichigo had finally begun to stir. He blinked.

Immediately upon recognizing Genryusai, he dropped to one knee, placed his fist into the concrete, and inclined his head in reverence.

"Head captain!"

Naruto weakly raised a hand in greeting.

"Long time no see, _taichou."_

Before Ukitake could say anything other than "Oh" a streak of black and strawberry blond shot across his vision. Naruto didn't even have time to blink. One moment he'd been crouched beside Ichigo; the next, he found himself swept upward, his face squished against a woman's bountiful bossom. His spear slipped from his fingertips, his hands tauht in pained disbelief as the bonecrushing vice tightened around his chest and face, despite the fact that he was still on his knees.

Was he under attack already?

"It _is_ you!" Fingers fisted through his hair, pulling him close when he tried to turn away. "I knew it!"

The smooth skin of her cheek brushed against his scruffy, whiskered one. Her hair filled his nostrils with the clean scent of delight and disbelief. She hugged him fiercely, the notes of strong hard arms joining with supple firm stomach and back joining with the pure feminine softness of her chest pressed against his making a chord of perfect acceptance.

"Geh!" Naruto cried out, unable to breath as her bosom squished against him. "Who in the hell-_Matsumoto!" _His eyes bulged as he recognized the woman holding him, woman that she was, that she had become since he'd last seen her and still he did not fail to recognize her. Sharp orbs of the purest, lightest crystal framed by flaming orange tresses and that beauty mark just beneath her right eye and_...and gods how she'd grown! _

"

"Matsumoto?" He repeated numbly, his eyes stinging with unshed tears. "Is that...you?" Of course he knew it was her. But to know was one thing; to actually hear it from her lips was something else entirely. This was her. This was the wide-eyed recruit who'd come to the Thirteenth Division as a skittish, bashful little thing. Ah, but she wasn't a girl now, was she? This was a woman, wearing the key and chain necklace that he had given the girl, as a part of squad thirteen's personal welcome. Only, she wasn't a girl any longer. When? When the hell had _that_ happened?

He felt his cheeks darken with shame.

_Of course._

That sort of thing happened when you were locked away for a few hundred centuries.

Tentatively, he lifted his hands from his sides and touched her back. He tasted salt on his lips, the bitter acrid taste serving to sour the moment before he realized the truth of what it was. A tear, his tear. His chest convulsed uncontrollably, and suddenly he was sobbing. He grabbed her and Rangiku squeezed him harder still. He felt her crying too; staccato breaths shaking her slender frame. And for a moment, just a moment, the world was reduced to a single hug, reunion, joy, and acceptance.

"You know this man, Matsumoto?"

"Who's the shortie?" Naruto blinked rapidly, his disbelief fading into genteel amusement. "Aren't you a little young to be playing captain there, kiddo?"

_"What did you just say?"_

Matsumoto burst out laughing.

"And Gin?"

"I see." Naruto's expression turned somber, his gaze distant. "Well, it looks like I've been gone longer than I expected.

"Perhaps we should speak more of this...later?" He let the inquiry hang, unadorned between them

Matsumoto smiled.

"I'd like that."


	3. Contemplation and Aggravation

**A/N: WARNING! You MUST watch the fourth bleach movie, Hell Chapter, to understand what is going on! Also, know that some rules have been bent somewhat in order to allow such a chance meeting between two of the greatest (if not strangest) heroes in anime. That is all. Again, if you have not seen, or at least heard of, the fourth bleach movie, you are doomed to languish within the depths of your own confusion. Also, I've tweaked Naruto's release phrase A bit. Otherwise...**

**ENJOY!**

_"The sky remains blue...and the ground runs red. Let us kill them all, and usher in the dead."_

_~Kokuto._

**Contemplation **

"The fumes of hell leaking from the gate of hell have been contained by the kido corps.

"What about the effect on Karakura Town?"

"Nothing as of yet.

"Understood. Take charge of the preparations to complete the barrier.

"Hai.

Hitsugaya sighed.

"But for the gate to break down itself just one day after maintenance...

"The reports that Kuchiki, Vice-captain Abarai, and Kurosaki Ichigo have entered hell, all seem to be true."

"Sheesh."

"Excuse me!"

Everyone turned as the tent flap parted, revealing another rank-and-file shinigami subourdinate.

"Substitute Shinigami Kurosaki Ichigo and another, unidentified individual have just emerged from the Gates of Hell!"

* * *

><p><em>(With Naruto)<em>

It came as less a surprise, more a relief, when he finally awoke.

At first, anyway.

His first clue that he had returned from the land of nightmares came when darkness truly fell. The visions evaporated, and the voices went with them. For a very welcome period, there was nothing to see or hear, or even think. He could just rest, and be.

Then new noises began to intrude on the peaceful silence: the whirring of rustling cloth, low-pitched whispers and murmurrs from someone, a fizzing, spitting noise that could have been running water, and other sounds that had no place in his serenity. His heart rose at the sound of a dissapointed sigh rising above the others. The faint sticking point between each breath was horribly familair.

Naruto raged against invisible bonds to move limbs he couldn't feel. The babble of noises faded for a moment, then returned, this time with light and sensation accompanying it. A hunched figure loomed before his vision, encompassing his entire existence in a single instant. Then the rest of the world swam dizzyingly into focus. He could feel it, the concrete beneath his fingertips, the dew of the early morning laden upon his skin, and the hushed murmurs of several unfamilair voices and it wasn't long before he gathered that he was no longer trapped in hell.

Moving only the fingers of his right hand, Naruto reached out; and was felt relief as they closed around the cloth hilt of of Yarinami. It was short lived. Scarce had he found his weapon than a thick reaitsu smothered him.

"And who is this?"

Suddenly, all eyes stretched toward him; because the bedraggled blond next to Ichigo had finally begun to stir. Groaning, he blinked back at them with bleary eyes, burdened by sleep, or perhaps a lack thereof.

"Ugh, I have the mother of all hangovers..**.!**

Immediately upon recognizing Genryusai, he dropped to one knee, placed his fist into the concrete, and inclined his head in reverence. It was a gesture, performed by a lower ranking subourdinate to their superior officer. His skin still had a pallid tinge to it, but his paralysis seemed to have worn off; the moment Yamamoto was close to him, he launched himself down onto one knee. After all these years, the old jiji was still alive? Impossible! Inconceivable! Just how long had he been gone for, anyway? The Captain Commander looked as though he hadn't aged a day during the time that Naruto had last seen him. Nevertheless, he was very much here, and _very_ real.

_"Head captain!"_

Yamamoto did not immediately honour him with a response.

"I ask again: who are you?"

"Sir!" Naruto declared as he knelt before the Captain-Commander. "Uzumaki Naruto, of the Thirteenth division, _sir!"_ His mouth opened and closed several times, but no words made their way from it. His shoulders pumped up and down heavily as he breathed, his face dragging the floor as he shoved his head down further. Yamamoto gently placed a frail hand on the _lieutenant's _head, and looked down from an impassive eye. The corner of his mouth suddenly turned up slightly in a smile and he grunted in a miniscule showing of approval. He let his hand drop before moving his way over to where Ichigo was kneeling. Naruto was barely able to pull himself back onto his feet.

"Compose yourself, boy."

Naruto weakly did so. He was painfully aware of the eyes upon him; of the attention his prescence had garnered. Doubtless, there were none here who recognized him; save the Head Captain himself. And then much to his dismay, a pair of shinigami whistled into existence beside the captain commander and Naruto felt his jaw fall slack. There, standinbg before him in all of his regal glory, was a man whom had once been a boy. A boy Naruto and another had often bested in his youth. A boy that had become a man, a man Naruto had not seen for a very long time. And by the flash of dismay scrawled across his face, the man recognized his old tormentor.

"Long time no see, Byakuya-boy." Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto grinned widely, enjoying the brief flicker of surprise that broke through the captain's composure. "How's Yoruichi-san?" At the mention of the infamous goddess of flash _and_ Naruto's ex-lover all eyes flickered toward Kuchiki Byakuya, expecting an answer. None was given. Despite himself, Naruto bit back his own laughter at the sight of the disgruntled Kuchiki. Yup, definitely Byakuya-boy.

Then his attention turned toward the second shinigami. He was a pallid and sickly looking man, but Naruto immediately inclined his head. There was respect and reverence here; admiration toward his superior. Juushirou Ukitake gawped for a moment, his mouth working wordlessly as his former subourdinate raised his head and snapped of an easy salute toward him. Impossible. He hadn't aged a day since his dissappearance centuries ago.

Naruto weakly raised a hand in greeting.

"Long time no see, _taichou." _He smiled, unnoticing of the brief flicker of shunpo in his peripheal vision.

Before Ukitake could say anything other than "Oh" a streak of black and strawberry blond shot across his vision. Naruto didn't even have time to blink. One moment he'd been crouched beside Ichigo; the next, he found himself swept upward, his face squished against a woman's bountiful bossom. His spear slipped from his fingertips, his hands tauht in pained disbelief as the bonecrushing vice tightened around his chest and face, despite the fact that he was still on his knees.

Was he under attack already?

"It _is_ you!" Fingers fisted through his hair, pulling him close when he tried to turn away. "I knew it!"

The smooth skin of her cheek brushed against his scruffy, whiskered one. Her hair filled his nostrils with the clean scent of delight and disbelief. She hugged him fiercely, the notes of strong hard arms joining with supple firm stomach and back joining with the pure feminine softness of her chest pressed against his making a chord of perfect acceptance.

"Geh!" Naruto cried out, unable to breath as her bosom squished against him. "Who in the hell-_Matsumoto!" _His eyes bulged as he recognized the woman holding him, woman that she was, that she had become since he'd last seen her and still he did not fail to recognize her. Sharp orbs of the purest, lightest crystal framed by flaming orange tresses and that beauty mark just beneath her right eye and_...and gods how she'd grown! _

"Matsumoto?" He repeated numbly, his eyes stinging with unshed tears. "Is that...you?" Of course he knew it was her. But to know was one thing; to actually hear it from her lips was something else entirely. This was her. This was the wide-eyed recruit who'd come to the Thirteenth Division as a skittish, bashful little thing. Ah, but she wasn't a girl now, was she? This was a woman, wearing the key and chain necklace that he had given the girl, as a part of squad thirteen's personal welcome. Only, she wasn't a girl any longer. When? When the hell had _that_ happened?

He felt his cheeks darken with shame.

_Of course._

That sort of thing happened when you were locked away for centuries.

Tentatively, he lifted his hands from his sides and touched her back. He tasted salt on his lips, the bitter acrid taste serving to sour the moment before he realized the truth of what it was. A tear, his tear. His chest convulsed uncontrollably, and suddenly he was sobbing. He grabbed her and Rangiku squeezed him harder still. He felt her crying too; staccato breaths shaking her slender frame. And for a moment, just a moment, the world was reduced to a single hug, reunion, joy, and acceptance.

He was dimly aware of Kurosaki Ichigo in the background, begging Inoue to heal his sister. But though his heart went out for the girl, Naruto was numbed to the situation. Even as the human girl set to work on Yuzu, his mind was elsewhere. This was a time of celebration. He'd been brought back from the void, back from hell itself. His chains finally severed, he could now...now...now...

_Something's not right._

He realized it as he clung to Matsumoto.

Though he and Kurosaki had indeed returned from the gates of the netherworld, their allies were nowhere to be found. The Quincy notwithstanding, both of Ichigo's shinigami counterparts were inexplicably missing. The memories came back to him in a rush, inundating him. The battle with Shuren and Kokuto. The others falling, struck down, one by one by one as their one-time ally turned on them. Ichigo's subsuquent hollowfication as he wrested Yuzu from the hands of Shuren.

There was also the matter of the blond woman who'd leapt in to save him at the last instant. Who was she? Clearly she was not a hollow. Nor was she a shinigami. Her reaitsu was both, and it was neither. He also felt as though he should know her, this erstwhile woman in scantily clad armor. At the very least he owed her a debt. His thoughts began to blur and swirl as both Kurosakis' were taken away for further treatment. This wasn't over. Kokuto and Shuren yet lived. So long as they continued to exist, this would never end. They must be eliminated. The must be-

"You know this man, Matsumoto?" A fourth and final burst of shunpo alerted him to the prescence of yet another shinigami, this one also being a captain. However, though it jarred him out of his reverie, Naruto's respect for his superior ended there. Kami the man was short! If he could even be considered a man at all! He was more like a kid! His body was too puny, too diminutive, to possibly belong to that of an adult.

"Captain!" Rangiku cried, wriggling_-if reluctantly-_out of Naruto's grip. "This is-

"Who's the shortie?" Naruto blinked rapidly, his disbelief fading into genteel amusement as he exchanged glances between Matsumoto and the newcomer. "Aren't you a little young to be playing captain there, kiddo?" The silence was deafening. But only for a moment. Then Naruto was nearly flattened by the wave of killer intent that said "boy" released upon him. Such reaitsu! Once, he would have been cowed by such a force. Once. But not now. Instead of cowering as he once would have, Naruto simply released his own spiritual pressure and revealed the true depths of his power, if only for a moment.

Horror overtook anger as he quashed the boy's spirit. This was a force beyond him he realized, a reaitsu that had dwelled within hell for an eon and grown stronger from it. He was a beast made flesh; a demon brought into human form. Beneath this frail human guise lurked a power beyond measure. A power capable of crushing Hitsugaya Toushirou in an instant, were it so inclined.

"Easy there, short stack." Naruto placated the boy, suppressing his own reaitsu lest the others notice. "There's no need to get so riled up."

_"What did you just say?" _the boy hissed, his features a rictus of fury.

Matsumoto burst out laughing before the situation could spiral out of control.

"Calm down, captain! This is Naruto! He's a friend!" Her cheeks darkened slightly at the word as she recalled all that he'd done for her in her youth. "Yes, a very...dear friend of mine." She caught his gaze and held it, her heart trilling in silent anticipation as she beheld the bandaged shinigami standing before her. He hadn't changed at all. Yes, his reaitsu had grown dark and monstrous, but outwardly, his appearance hadn't changed in the slightest. Nor had he. He was still the same, just as he'd been on that day. Save for his reiatsu, this was still the shinigami that had sheltered her throughout so much of her young life. _He's still the same,_ Matsumoto told herself, shrugging off the silent as dread fear that his reaitsu was not something to be trifled with.

But none of that mattered now; becasuse she'd finally caught up with him.

She'd caught up with him after all. If not in terms of strength, than at least in rank. She remembered the promise he had made her; the promise that one day when she finally made Fuku-taichou, he'd grant her her greatest wish and desire. He'd really, finally, actually-

"Naruto?" Her captain's words dragged Matsumoto out of her blissful reverie. She could feel his eyes upon her, wondering what it was that had caused her cheeks to darken an indefinite shade of scarlet. Of course he wondered. Matsumoto hadn't told him. She hadn't told taichou about _that_ promise. And how could she? It was a sacred promise, made to her the day Naruto had first given her the key and necklace that now dangled around her full bossom. Idly, she touched a hand to it and forced herself to focus on the word of the two men in front of her.

"Yes, my name is Naruto." Her saviour was saying to her captain, his words taking on a flinty edge. "You've only said it like a dozen times now."

"Naruto?" The word seemed to placate the boy somewhat, his voice loosing its frosty edge. "As in _that_ Naruto?" He folded his arms before his chest, his scowl deepening as he looked upon the erstwhile shinigami as if he could somehow find a flaw within the perfection that stood before him. Naruto scowled. Hitsugaya growled. The longer they glared at one another, the thicker the air became.

"And Gin?"

Matsumoto's face fell.

"I see." Naruto's expression turned somber, his gaze distant. "Well, it looks like I've been gone longer than I expected. Perhaps we should speak more of this...later?" He let the inquiry hang, unadorned between them

Matsumoto smiled.

"I'd like that."

* * *

><p><em>(With Inoue)<em>

Naruto had been standing outside the doorway for quite some time now, reflecting on his actions with Matsumoto. He'd been civil enough, and bid her goodbye at the earliest convenience. After being ruthlessly grilled by the Head Captain, they'd finally declared him fit for active duty, much to his displeasure. Not even an hour back and already they had him working like a dog! Again! Not to mention this god forsaken assignment he'd been given; ensuring Kurosaki Ichigo did not enter the Gate of Hell to attempt a rescue of his comrades.

Debating as to whether he would enter and seek aid from the one inside. Frustration warred with his reason, pitching back and forth in a heated battle. Eventually the former triumphed over the latter. Letting his own demons consume him, Naruto stepped inside and closed the door behind him. None knew that he had come by to check on Kurosaki Ichigo. What he found, rather, who he had found, was Inoue Orihime.

"Naruto-san?"

Naruto froze.

He hadn't expected to see her. Her, of all people! This marvelously open-minded human girl who had the power to reject reality as they knew it. She was weak, he knew this, but even so, he found himself drawn to her and her potential; her infectious optimism and the belief that everything would somehow turn out alright in the end. She was akin to Matsumoto in that regard_-excluding the physical aspect-_if nothing else. And yet even so, he was wary of her. How was it she knew his name? Kurosaki must have told her, he surmised, looking upon her warily, assessing her as an immediate threat.

She was dangerous.

Her power to reject, if properly trained, could become a devastating weapon in the wrong hands. In his hands_-stop!_ He ruthlessly suppressed the urge before it could manifest and overcome him. He'd been trapped in hell for so long, he'd suppressed his own desires for so long, that he'd forgotten what it was like to be with a woman. A part of him, a part nearly forgotten, yearned to experience that feeling once again. With her. With this weak little human whose body he so badly desired. Who stood before him, unafraid. It made his heart race and his pulse pound. So close. So incredibly close...

And yet she was standing here, in Kurosaki's home, with tears in her eyes. Kurosaki's spiritual pressure blanketed the room and his body lay there, strewn across the couch in a gaggle of arms and limbs. Lifeless. A jettisoned shell, empty of a soul. He'd only just missed the ryoka, Naruto realized. He was headed for the gate! Mumbling his apologies, the shinigami turned to go, a scowl already beginning to form on his lips.

He never made it.

"Wait."

Naruto stiffened.

_'Why am I hesitating?'_

The human girl had spoken to him, and amazingly, he had listened. He lingered there, his hand twisting around the doorjamb in the throes of silent agony. He needed to leave and he needed to leave now. His could feel his self-control begining to falter, waxing and waning like a candle in the breeze. He

"You're going after Kurosaki-kun, aren't you?"

"Yes." He answered stiffly. "I am."

"Are you going to stop him?"

A pause.

"No."

"Are you going to help him?" Inoue asked softly, almost fearfully.

"Yes."

"So you trust him, then?"

Another pause.

"I do."

_"Then why do you seem so sad?"_

Naruto paused at that, tacken aback by her words. She'd cut to the meat of the matter with a single sentence. She'd stripped him down and laid him bare with but a glance. It was infuriating. How could she,_ a human_ see through him so easily? It made his blood boil._ It excited him._ His will was weakning. He nedded to leave now. Or he would not be held responsible for what happened next. He did not have time for this; for the simple pleasures of the flesh that he'd once exulted in.

"I'm not sad." Naruto felt the words crack against his lips as he twisted his body away from her, averting his gaze. "Not at all."

With that, Naruto started to silently move away. She quickly turned and reached out with her hand, grabbing his forearm. He froze. She took his hand and brought it slowly up to her face. His fingers cradled her cheek gently, fearfully, almost as if he expected she would vanish into a dream. Then he rushed forward, snatching her up in his arms and kissing Orihime with an urgency that almost overwhelmed her.

Her eyes shot open in surprise; his kiss was hot but gentle, his two lips caging her upper lip between them. Naruto, a complete stranger, a sinner from hell, was kissing her! It was too much. Too much to take in. Inoue wanted to kick him, to scream out in anger, but she was completely overwhelmed by him as he released her wrist and cupped her cheek with his hand. She soon found herself returning the kiss, deepening it as she opened her mouth and slid her tongue out and against his. She reached upwards with her arms and wrapped them around his neck as she pulled his body closer to hers, exulting in this sudden outburst of passion.

His hand released her cheek, dipping toward her stomach. The curve of her waist. Lower. Lower...

_Stop!_

Naruto tore_-ripped-_himself away from her. Gasping, he shook himself free and swore vehemently. Something dark danced behind his eyes, something dark and demented. His voice warbled slightly as he spoke, a silent tremor wracking his frame.

"I'm sorry." he began. "I shouldn't have done that. I-

"You need to look on the bright side, Naruto-san." Inoue answered, stepping towards him. It occurred to the blond that he ought to step back, but when he attempted to do so his back met the wall and Inoue's lips, his. She kissed him again, and for a moment, he nearly yielded. Her lips were soft and warm and oh-so-inviting. It took everything he'd had to wrest himself away, to turn his focus back toward the matter at hand.

"I don't like to look on the bright side." Naruto whispered, tearing his lips away from hers. "Because when you do, you realize it's not there and it just makes you sadder."

"But there's always a bright side." Inoue protested.

"I was a sinner." Naruto answered, his eyes stern, his expression dour. "For me, there certainly wasn't-

She cut him off by thumbing his chin back to face her, her lips touching his softly. He hesitated for a moment, her heart sinking for a moment, before he leaned gently into her. His right hand came to rest on her thigh, his left coming up to cup her cheek and she placed both of hers on his chest and she fell forward into him. Her lips covered his own, muffling whatever weak protest he might have given. Desire welled up in him like a raging tide, refusing to be denied. Damn this insufferable woman! He couldn't stay here, he couldn't...couldn't...couldn't...

"There's always a bright side, Naruto-san." She insisted, pulling away, saving him. "Remember that."

Naruto shook his head to clear it.

"I'll try to remember that. Just...

"Naruto-san, I-

He nodded.

"I'll make sure he comes back, Inoue-san." Before she could say anything else he was gone, his shihakusho billowing about him darkly as he exploded into motion. The sheer force of his sudden exit sent pots and pans clattering about the kitchen. All that was left was a black speck on the horizon, and then, not even that. He was gone, the evening light eclipsing the sudden movement as though he'd never been.

Inoue fidgeted silently in the wake of his deparute.

"Just make sure _you_ come back."

**A/N: Aaaaaaand the harem train has officially left the station, ladies and gentlemen! Poor Naruto, being chained up for so long! He really needs to get out every few centuries or so! Perhaps once this sinner business is taken care of, he will! But while it might include the recent filler arc, it WILL include the current Fullbring arc and will extend far and beyond as the manga progresses. Thanks once again to Hollow Schutte for giving me this idea, and I hoped you liked the tweaks I made to the actual movie!**

**Now, here, once more, for your viewing pleasure is an extended preview of what you, the reader, have to look forward to in the next chapters!**

**R&R! =D**

* * *

><p>"<em>So what will you do now?"<em>

_At first, Halibel did not honour him with a response._

_She stood, her face upturned toward the heavens; streamlined against the light of the full moon. She reached up to her face, absentmindedly fingering her jawling; her fingers trailing across the edge of her cheek. Without the jagged scarmask, she could almost pass for human. But thoughts of humanity were the furthest thing from her mind. Would, that she knew what to do now, now that she finally had her freedom. What to do now, indeed. She could feel his gaze lingering upon her, but she did little to divert it. Without him-without this shinigami-she'd still be trapped in hell. She owed him a debt. A debt she might never be able to repay. And Halibel Tia always repaid her debts. This was only her honor speaking, and her honor was all she had left from her days as an Espada._

_So let him look. Let him look upon her; let him lust after her beauty. Let him come to her. Let the reaper come to the shark; let them become one and descend into the throes of sheer bliss and utter ecstaasty. Her cheeks burned at the sudden turn her thoughts had taken. Just who was this boy? Who was he, this shinigami that refused to be baited, goaded, or provoked into a response? He was infuriating. That was what he was. Maddening. And so she said nothing. And he, in reply, said nothing. And all the while, Halibel burned silently under the weight of his scrutinizing glare._

_Finally, she tore her gaze away from the sky and sighed._

_"I think, my fraccion and I will return to Hueco Muendo."_

_She stole a glance at him, half expecting a vehement protest from her erstwhile ally. Something. Anything. Anything at all. Instead, he confounded her once again._

_Naruto just shrugged._

_"If that's what you want, then I'm not going to stop you."_

_"What I want?" Halibel repeated the question aloud, mulling over in her head. Then she took action. She took three, swift steps forward, before vanishing in a sudden burst of sonido. Naruto blinked, wondering at the reason for her sudden departure. She hadn't gone very far; he could still detect the oppressive aura of her reaitsu. He waited and he watched and when he was certain that she wasn't going to reappear, only then did he allow himself to exhale._

_"Well," He began softly, "That was anticlimatic."_

_Abruptly the tercera reappeared, fists clenched and lips parted in a small cry of exasperation._

_"You infuriate me, Uzumaki Naruto!"_

_Naruto blinked, aghast._

_"Huh?"_

_She kissed him then. It wasn't at all like Inoue. There was nothing soft, tentative, or shy about this kiss. It was sharp, rough, and forceful as she pressed her lips against his, welding her body against him_

_She kissed him again, and this time, their kiss had passion._

_It was, after all, only a temporary arrangement._

* * *

><p><em>"Yo, Ichigo!"<em>

_Kurosaki spun around, his eyes bulging as he saw the one who had spoken._

_There, crouched on the stairwell, decked out in the full uniform of a Karakura Highschool Student, was Uzumaki Naruto. The one-time vizard and full-time soul reaper flashed the peace sign at him before vaulting over the railing and landing; effortlessly alighting upon a nearby lampost, before swinging himself to the street below. All of this, and no one seemed to notice the sudden feat of superhuman speed and agility._

_"Long time no see!" he remarked, slinging an arm around the former substitute's shoulders. "How've you been?"_

_"What the hell are you doing here!" Ichigo thrashed, shaking himself free of the blond shinigami. "And why can I see you!" The blond danced away as the strawberry slung the likes of a half-hearted punch toward him, grinning all the while, much to the latter's dismay._

_"I'm in a gigai, fool." Naruto clarified, tugging at his cheek. "And why wouldn't I be here? Someone has to make sure that Quincy doesn't overwork himself." The words hit the former soul reaper like a ton of bricks. Why wouldn't I be here. Someone has to make sure that Quincy doesn't overwork himself. Naruto wearing a gigai when he could not be seen otherwise._

_"They assigned YOU?"_

_Naruto grinned._

_"Uzumaki Naruto, temporary shinigami guardian of Karakura Town, at your service!"_

_"That's a mouthful."_

_"Isn't it?" Naruto laughed._

_"I thought Rukia was-_

_Naruto stopped laughing._

_"She's...busy."_

_Something in his eyes prevented Ichigo from inquiring further and he stopped himself before he could. Right. It wasn't any of his business. Not anymore. He'd left that life-along with his shinigami powers-behind him. There was no sense in dwelling on it._

_Naruto blushed._

_"Yeah...that was me."_

**_R&R!_**


	4. Edge of Destiny

**A/N: Well, I'm certainly beginning to enjoy writing this now XD Now that the Fullbring arc is over, and we have to wait THREE WEEKS for the next blasted chapter of Bleach, I suppose I'll have plenty of time to write, no? Anywho, I sincerely hope that you enjoy this chapter to its utmost; because that preview in the last chapter left something to be desired, no? Well, I hope that this lives up to it, so lets get started, shall we? **

**Prepare for the epic fight scene!**

_**Edge of Destiny**_

Overhead, a sickle moon tore through rags of cloud. On the icy desolation all around, moon shadows flitted like ghost. Silhouetted against its surface, Uzumaki Naruto hurtled toward the horizon; towards his destiny. He broke through the ranks of shinigami assigned to guard the gate, scattering them like so much refuse. He did not stop, he did not slow; even as a giant hand loomed through the abyss and grasped for him with fingers of death and decay.

Naruto devoured it, arm and creature, whole. He took the strength that was meant to crush him and turned it against the guardian of Hell. The results were catastrophe and and creation. Catastrophe, as the beast split apart, its molecules disintegrating in a haze of reishi. Creation, as those particles, that incredible power, sought a new host. The shinigami who had slain it. Naruto.

**_"Worthy...shinigami..._**

These were the last words Naruto heard as hell itself became a part of him, just as he had he once been a part of it.

He felt the Kushanada's power flee its fading form and flow into him. He felt it surge through him, manifesting in flakes of golden, skeletal armor across his exposed arms and upper torso. He felt his strength, reduched to a fraction of its former might, return. Like a blunted blade being sharpened, so too was his focus. He scarcely even noticed when his wounds healed; gilding themselves shut in the wake of this newfound power. Something inside his soul stirred as the reiatsu of the underworld melded with his own for the final time and became one. He felt his darker half, his hollow, rejoice at this newfound power. Naruto rejoiced as well; because he'd finally found what he sought. Finally, after centuries of soul-searching, of being locked away in the bowels of the netherworld...

_...he was at peace._

He'd been trapped in hell once before. Now he was about to return, but for different purpose entirely. He was not rushing to the rescue of another. Not this time. His goal was nowhere near as noble and much more base. He was going to die. Uzumaki Naruto had lived a long time. A very long time. Too long, as forced into stasis by the fumes of hell while his friends languished without him and perished. Thos who had been but striplings before were now the same as he; accomplished shinigami in their own right. Rangiku, well, Rangiku was another matter entirely. She'd become a fine woman since he'd seen her last. She'd lived and loved and laughed without him all these years, and really, he saw no reason to change that now. He wanted to say that, wanted to feel that way, even as he felt the wisps of hell's miasma upon his face once more. She_-and possibly that human girl-_were really the only things of any consequence in the small circle that had become his world upon his return. They held meaning for him, purpose, even as he felt his frozen heart melt in their prescence.

Sakura petals flayed harmlessly across his skin; ushering him onward and toward his companion. Naruto welcomed them and plunged into the fire and the flames. He, would do as Inoue had asked. He'd drag Kurosaki home by the nape of his neck if he had to. But he hadn't made any promises concerning himself. If he died, then he died. He held no regrets, and save for the aforementioned women, he really didn't mind if today was his last day.

But that didn't mean he was going down without a fight. Not at all.

As Naruto dove into the depths of hell, the sinners and Kushanāda alike parted for him. Perhaps they understood that he was not to be trifled with. Perhaps they feared him. It did not matter to the shinigami hybrid in the slightest. Already, he could sense the beginnings of battle in the depths below, the first stirrings of conflict in the bowels of Hell. A storm was brewing. A small smile tore its way across his face at the thought of it; the slaughter he was about to commit. How long had it been since his last battle? How long since he'd last torn the flesh from his opponent? How long-

Grimacing, the blond redoubled his speed.

_I'll be there soon, Kurosaki._

Within seconds, he'd returned to the spot of his defeat. He could still feel the linger traces of reaitsu here, but that was all he felt. The signs of battle were gone, removed like so much of the landscape. Before him stretched a gaping hole in the earth; likely Kurosaki's main point of entry into the bowels below. Naruto made as if to follow, when on a sudden he lost his footing and nearly pitched into the blackness.

"What the-**!**"

A groan echoed up cavern, as if the earth itself were in pain. The floor shook beneath his feet. It wasn't until he nearly tripped that he realized something. The sound came not from the earth, but from a woman. A woman laying at his feet her fingers wrapped around his ankle and clenched into a fist. He hadn't stumbled, he'd merely been held up by her. Belatedly, the vizard noticed the cuts and bruises lining that hand, were most of the fingers had been sliced clean off, leaving a ragged stump in place of the second hand and not the other.

"It's you again." Naruto recognized aloud. Battered, bloody and beaten perhaps, but still, he recognized that mocha skin and shaggy blond hair all the same. "The woman from before." He'd all but forgotten about her; the one who'd saved him from Kokuto's treachery at the last moment. Curiously enough, he could also see her chains. The supposed invisible bonds the bound the sinners to hell, he could see them. Clear as day. Did that also mean he could cut them? This strange woman who'd saved him once before surely deserved as much. This strange woman, who was neither a shinigami nor a hollow...

"Hello, arrancar." Naruto tried to smile, "Long time no see."

The woman sighed and rolled onto her chained back. She'd changed little from their first encounter, though she seemed to have donned the uniform white garb of the sinner's since he'd seen her last. His gaze strayed to the wide sword strapped to her thigh. _Strange. _Whatever form she'd wielded when they first met, she clearly wasn't wielding the same body now.

"What are you doing here, shinigami?"

_"Huh?"_

"I deliberately sent you back to the living world, didn't I?" The arrancar clarified, stooping to lick her wounds. "Therefore, why are you here?"

"Well I-

"You are a fool." The woman answered for him, rising on her haunches. "You have scorned what I have given you." She stood, rising ing a swift motion. "Begone." she said as she stood, her jade eyes boring into his own. "There is much I can do nothing for you now. Leave me to my suffering." She turned her back on him, the chains rattling silently with the motion

"You're an espada." Naruto mused aloud. "Aren't you?"

The espada rounded on him, moving with a speed that Naruto had not thought possible. One moment she'd been yards away, watching the shinigami beat a hasty retreat. The next, smoldering swirls of jade and green swelled before his vision, blotting out all else. Belatedly, Naruto realized that the arrancar _wasn't_ angry._ She was absolutely furious._ Furious, for risking herself perhaps, as he couldn't think of any thing else that would so easily draw her ire. Regardless, the arrancar was positively livid with him. She made a curt motion toward the rock; a massive boulder where three women lay, chained to its craggy face.

_"Former!"_ She seethed. "Former espada, Tia, Halibel."

The guardian that he'd fused with stirred at her words. Tia Halibel. The name bespoke of power and pride, and perhaps, something more. It wanted to condemn her, to plunge her soul into the blackest pit for the service she had done; for the lives she'd stolen in her tenure to Aizen. Naruto, however, remained steadfast. He drew upon the memories the Kushanada offered him. [eering through fleeting flickerings of sight and sound until he found something. His eyes widened marginally at what he saw. Flashes of _insight_ of death and destruction and dismay flowed through his conciousness and threatened to overwhelm him. Reluctantly he drew back from this knowledge; distancing himself from the ebb and flow of information. He returned his mind to the present, to the espada.

"Those are your fraccion." He let the statement hang, unadorned between them. Halibel looked as though she might say something, might lash out at him in recompense for his temerity; but she never spoke a word. Instead the fingers of her good hand clenched into a fist until they drew blood. Naruto watched her hand stain itself scarlet, as she bit her lip to keep her emotions from jumping her out.

Finally, _finally _her head dipped a fraction of an inch.

"I see." Naruto unsheathed his sword_-when had he sheated it_-and advanced on the happless fraccion. "They're important to you, aren't they?"

Her cheeks burned at that.

"What can you do?" Halibel demanded. "You've already been defeated once before. Your assistance would be neglible at best." Now, Naruto took offense to that. When he was alive, he'd dealt with his share of naysayers and the like; each of whom claimed that he'd never be able to realize his dream of becoming Hokage. He'd proven them wrong by the end, hadn't he? So what if he'd died in the process? Granted, his suffering in hell had tempered him somewhat, but his resolve was still very much the same. He stole a glance over his shoulder, regarding the scornful espada with a lazy iris.

"It's not a matter of whether I can or can't do it," said Naruto, his eyes glinting darkly. "It's because I _want_ to do it." Halibel looked as though she might say more, but she did not have the chance to speak again.

Naruto looked into her eyes and deep within his eyes was something that made her want to gibber like a madwoman. It was like staring at the night sky after learning for the first time that the stars were not pinpricks in the raiment of heaven, but each its own sun, billions of leagues distant. To stare into the eyes of this creature was to realize how small one truly was, how utterly insignificant you were when compared to him.

_"Stand aside."_

Mute, she complied.

Naruto stepped past her and leapt; alighting effortlessly upon the craggy peaks of the boulder and just above the ledge that held her three companions. The golden armor bit into the unyielding surface around its master; gleaming like a strange golden god as he readied his blade. She watched them stir, her half-dead servants each shifting ever so slightly as the first tremor shook the bailey.

"What are you doing?" asked Halibel.

"Repaying my debt." answered Naruto.

The light struck him then, blinding in its radiance.

An overpowering sensation of pressure bore down upon her like an invisible hand. She sensed something enormous nearby, silent in the dark, like a giant passing within arms reach. A gravid deadly prescence too huge to grant her notice. She glanced to Naruto and saw him smile, smile as her fingertips pressed against her temples. A droplet of blood fell from her nose.

_'Such reaitsu...!'_

"This may sting a bit, ladies." Naruto warned, raising his katana in a loose, one-handed grip. "Well, actually, it might sting a lot."

_**CLANG!**_

And with that, Halibel's world shattered.

With a mournful shriek, the zanpakutou descended. Once, twice, thrice, four times, and each time it came away entangled in chains. Halibel shook with each impact, eyes glazing. Naruto struck a final time, and the last of _her_ chains came away; sizzling and spitting smoke as they crumbled into nothingness. The espada blinked, raising both hands for her face as a warm glow suffused her sword and skin, healing her wounds; restoring the shattered fingers of her fist.

"Impossible," she breathed. "He broke their chains...He...broke my...chains...**!**"

_"Halibel-sama..._

She swung around as a small cry reached her ears.

"Apache?"

Groaning, her fraccion toppled, falling from their perch and toward the earth below. The air shimmered before them in a swell of azure reaitsu, the kido spell manifesting as they struck it, softening the impact. They lay there, unharmed, unhurt and whole. Naruto hefted his zanpakutou depreceatingly, shouldering the massive nodachi as if it were naught but a feather. He pounced from his perch and landed softly beside her, eyes gleaming within the vanguard of hell's protection.

"Why?" she asked, glaring bloody daggers at the wraith-like reaper that stood before her. "Why did you save them?"

"Because I _wanted_ to." Naruto replied, deflecting her harsh stare with the wave of a hand. "Espada-san."

_"?"_

"Now we're even." he said, shifting weight to his left foot. "That's all there is to it." He inclined his head stiffly, a show of mutual respect, one he was unused to. He stared at her for what felt like an eternity; because her once stoic visage was no longer so. Overlarge eyes grown large and wide, Halibel struggled to find words to express her thanks and came up with nothing. In the end, she said nothing. Perhaps that was for the best. She did not trust herself now. She could not_-would not-_trust herself to utter words of thanks to a shinigami. Her pride as an arrancar was simply too great.

And so, in the end, Naruto offered only one thing. A farewell.

"Ja ne, Halibel."

With a whisper of shunpo he was going, shihakusho fluttering widly as he dove into the gaping orifice below. The espada stared after him a moment longer, her mouth gaping like a fish as he hurtled himself into the battle below. She stole a glance back at her fraccion; because Apache, Sun-Sun, and Mila-Rose had finally begun to stir. Though their garments were shredded, the three arrancar to whom she'd grown so close seemed to be no worse for the wear. Their outfits were ruined, true, but outfits could be replaced. Friends_-true friends-_could not be replaced. They were as timeless as life itself, and equally precious. And now, she had a chance to redeem that precious bond, to cling to the life she'd once had; to reclaim what she'd lost. All because of that shinigami.

All because of a true friend.

Her lips pursed into a thin line, Halibel returned her gaze to the crater. She exhaled violently.

_"Fool..._

* * *

><p><em>(The lowermost level of hell)<em>

The lowermost level of hell was a wasteland of epic proportions.

Magma welled up from the depths, scorching the land black. Withered trees stretched across the horizon for as far as the eye could see, eclipsed only by the ponderous terrain of the mountains above them. Lightning split the sky into a thousand pieces. Thunder boomed. Far below, and all around, the earth raged. Volcanoes erupted, shattering them and rebuilding them in the same instant, oozing sulphorous smoke into the atmosphere. Thick and cloying, choking off all life. Nothing grew here. Nothing lived here. Nothing, could exist here. Nothing at all.

The sole exceptional feature here was the twisted tree from which the bodies of Uryuu Ishida and Abarai Renji dangled precariously. Jutting out from a ponderous ledge where the worst reaitsu raged, it bent and sagged as if it might snap at any moment. It was here, here amongst the columns of magma and earth that Kurosaki Ichigo fought for the sake of his friends, for the sake of Kuchiki Rukia.

And Naruto didn't waste a second in rushing to his aide.

"So you finally decided to show." Kokuto sneered as the hybrid whispered into existence behind him. Naruto said nothing. He turned his attention toward Kurosaki, the latter struggling to draw breath, the last remnants of his mask peeling away from his frame. Then his gaze slid to Shuren and his eyes blazed. _Hate._ Hate hate hate hate! He hated Shuren for what he'd done, and the longer he looked upon him, the stronger that hate became.

The very hate that threatened to consume Kurosaki and turn him into a hollow.

"I'd forgotten what it's like to see a Hollowfication from the outside," Naruto whistled softly for all to hear. "Scary stuff. However," His fingers clenched, reaching for his visage, gathering in a tide of cerulean and saffron reaitsu there. "If you boys want to see a true hollowfication,..."

_**"Then don't blink."**_

Ichigo swung around, eyes bulging as a veritable _wave_ of reaitsu engulfed his fellow vizard and billowed outward at an alarming rate. It swept across the plains, scouring them clean of all life foolish enough to remain earthbound, shinigami or otherwise. Ichigo skipped backwards and flung himself skyward, narrowly escaping the encroaching tide as it devoured the countryside. He could see that Kokuto and Shuren had likewise done the same, though he silently prayed that his friends had escaped the initial surge.

Abruptly, the flood took on a focused feverish pitch. Something was moving down there. Stirring. Something was alive. And that something possessed the most sinister reaitsu the most hellish spiritual pressure, in all of existence. And then the currents bulged, arcing upward as though struck from within.

Naruto slashed his way out of it, a man transformed. Where his visage had once been he'd donned a grisly mask. But not just any mask. Halved by intersecting lines of scarlet and sapphire, the ceramic fixture bore an eerie resemblance to that of a kitsunte. Carved in the likeness of grinning fox. Slowly, the blond took his hand away from his face his reaitsu streaming away from his clawed fingers as he stretched them outward.

He held that hand out, and energy swirled within his fingertips.

With a deafening thrumming, it pooled against his palm, forming an unmistakably bright sphere of sheer destructive power. Ichigo clenched his teeth against the pressure and felt his jaw protest against the silent strain. He looked on in awe and horror as he realized it, truth of what this was. He looked on, as the reaitsu coating the plains began to withdraw, funneling itself into the cerulean spiral enclosed within the first of Uzumaki Naruto. It took all of an instant and then his fellow soul reaper had finished and thrust that hand_-brimming now with barely suppressed energy-_toward the offending togabito.

_**"Cero."**_

With a sonorously low roar, the beam plowed forward and into the sinners. Ichigo flung an arm before his face, but to no avail. The ensuing explosion ripped him free from his footing and cast him down, leaving the strawberry bewildered, blinded and baffled. Just now...that was a cero! He'd only ever seen Hirako use the deadly blast, and even _that_ paled in comparsion to the swathe of destruction that stretched before them.

Where there had once been flat level ground, there was only charred earth. The doom blast had torn through the fields of hell and reduced them to rubble, leaving nothing but ash and sulfur in their wake. The only feature of the fields that _hadn't _become charcoal was_-thankfully-_the giant skeleton upon which his Rukia and his friends hung. The cero had been extinguished just beyond their ghoulish perch, leaving them relatively unharmed.

Naruto touched down beside Ichigo, sparing not so much as a glance for the beleagured vizard. He was already surging forward; already engaging his shikai, already bringing his zanpakutou to bear, already raining down a hail of blows upon a bewildered Shuren; the latter staggering beneath the sudden and unexpected assault. Kokuto looked on, his face twisted into a sickening grin.

"That's it...

Naruto snarled, and, with a sudden surge, a wall of water thrust itself between the two of them. With nowhere to go but up, Shuren suddenly found himself trapped between a well of walloping water and a wicked wind. The sinner suddenly vanished, leaving the two elements to collide harmlessly against one another. When he reappeared, Uzumaki Naruto was there to greet him. Rather, his scythe was. The weapon found its place between Shuren's shoulder's and flung him forward like a rag doll.

He slapped into the ground hard, his broken body flipping over as he skidded onto his back. He bounced; one, two, three, four times, before the momentum of his impact drove him back to earth. His head kissed an iron-hard root, made all the worse by the thickness of his skull. Black spots swam before his eyes and left him blinded. He tried to stand; and a broken rib all but drove the breath from his his lungs.

_Up, damn you! Get up!_ Swearing and spitting he got on his hands and knees and _tried_ to stand, eyes watering, ears ringing. Pushing his hands against the gravely and granite soil, he'd made it all of halfway, a half-assed oath leaving his lips before the shadow fell upon him; before he raised his gaze and realized what exactly he was looking at. Both hands spouted fire as he deflected a barrage of bala, sending the blasts harmlessly into the dirt.

"Is that all?" Dusting himself off, the togabito swept himself up imperiously, cloak billowing out behind him. "Foolish boy, as if you could possibly harm_...me?"_

The reasons for his words soon became apparent as his arm flopped bonelessly away from him. Ichigo tore his gaze away from Kokuto as Shuren screamed; a ghastly terrible, bloodcurdling scream.

There was a _thump_, and Shuren came staggering back toward the edge of the clearing. Deep red arterial spray was jetting from the stump where his left arm had once been. His face had gone an even paler shade of grey, his mouth gawping open in amazement. Ichigo stared as Shuren did a weird wandering pirouette back around and flung his arm in that direction, as if to tell him what was going on.

Then Naruto set upon him.

His first strike savaged Shuren's cape but did little damage. The second sheared Shuren's leg off at the knee. The third smashed the sinner clean across the face, breaking his nose and covering the magma fields with blood. The fourth was countered by a gust of flame, the pommel swinging back around to smash Naruto in the stomach.

"Oh, now you've gone and done it." He burbled, his words trickling out from beyond the demonic visage that was his mask. "You've gone and woken her up**_...SHUREN!" _**With a dull _whump,_ the vizard dissappeared once more, the act of which threw up a dark cloud of ashen soot around them. He reappeared, his hand outrstretched, fingers splayed, a fully charged cero already swirling within his palm. Mere centimeters from the sinner's face, the blazing orb spat and hissed at the bleeding togabito beneath it.

"On your knees, sinner." Naruto snarled, the words little more than a feral hiss. "I'll not tell you again."

"I-I surrender!"

Shuren stepped backward, eyes widening. Then they narrowed. He flopped forward onto his knees as he'd been told, his head inclined in humility. His remaining hand closed into a fist behind his back, gathering power. _Just a little longer,_ he thought to himself. _That's right. Just a little closer..._

"Good." The hybrid's hand closed around the _cero_ and extinguished it. "Now-

_"Burn!"_ Shuren roared as he flung up his remaining hand and spewed a great gout of fire into the hybrid's face. Naruto vanished in the inferno, his body turning to dust upon contact with Shuren's flames. Or so Ichigo assumed as he briefly forced Kokuto into a deadlock. Nothing could have survived that blast. Not even an armor clad shinigami. No, not even Naruto. There was just no way he'd survived Shuren's treachery.

That was _before_ Naruto thudded into existence behind him and _before _his scythe bit into Shuren's back. The sound of it, of the sinner's screams sent a trill of delight down his spine. This was payback. This was retribution. This was vengeance! His fingers pressed against the pommel of the scythe, shoving the zanpakuto deeper into the wound as his opponent thrashed and flailed for freedom.

"No! Wait! Mercy!" The sinner cried upon seeing his unscathed foe, finally realizing that he was terribly out of his league. "I beg of you! Mercy!" The blue electricity rolled off Naruto in waves, strong, forceful and oh, so very angry. Ichigo could see the hate burning in the eyes of his fellow hybrid, and it terrified him. This power, this carnal power, radiating bloodlust and killer intent...it was almost as if another had taken anchor in the blonde's body.

**_"Mercy?"_** Naruto growled, his golden-black eyes narrowing into deadly slits of saffron. "Did you give her mercy? Did you? When she screamed and begged and wailed for you to release me, did you let her live?" Naruto growled, and his fingers ground themselves shut. "Did you? No. You did not. Your cries fall on deaf ears, sinner. Perish now, foolish man, for all that you have done to me! Perish before my power!"

"No! Please! Don't!"

_"Fade to black,"_ Naruto intoned solemnly, his eyes glazing over with the red haze of his mask once more. _**"Kyuubi." **_Darkness enveloped his right hand. Black as night, black as the ocean's depths, coiled about his fingers. Shuren gazed upon this blackness, and became afraid. It felt as if he were staring into a sea of spiritual pressure. He could feel the crushing weight of the ocean bearing down upon him; shearing his shoulders, tearing at his muscles and vertebrae even as the zanpakutou_-Naruto's true zanpakutou-_took form and assumed it shape...

* * *

><p><em> (With Kokuto)<em>

Kokuto saw Shuren die.

He watched, as Naruto forced the sinner back and savaged his limbs. He watched, as a second, jet black scythe materialized in the shinigami's hand. Streaming viscuous red reaitsu, it descended upon Shuren and lopped of what remained of the Sinner's limbs. Shuren screamed, a deep, high-pitched squeal as the scythe swept upon him for a final time; as it claimed his head, and, his life. Kurosaki turned back towards him them, distracted by the intense conflict raging between the two sinners.

Kokuto scofffed and slung an errant blast of energy at the shinigami's unprotected back. Then, as the substitute shinigami staggered from the force of the first, Kokuto hurled a second_-but by no means less deadly-_blast into the hybrid's chest. The result was catastrophic. His attention split between Naruto and his own battle, distracted by his injury gave his already strengthened hollow all the opportunity it needed to take over.

_**"Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrgh!**_

With a burbling hiss his mask manifested. Bone white fluid burst across his chest, flowing arounds his limbs, painting his skin a rechid chalk white as his irises burned black. It was excruciating, losing control of his body here, where his hollow ruled supreme. He could hear his hollow laughing-laughing!-as it assumed direct control of his powers. With a sickening dread, Ichigo watched himself turn toward Naruto. The sinner had just enough time to turn; just enough time to fling Shuren off his scythe and an arm for his face before all hell broke loose.

_'No!'_ He raged against bonds that he could not feel. _'No no no no!'_

"Yes, that's it!" Kokuto cackled! "Let your hatred consume you, Kurosaki Ichigo!"

A massive _cero _erupted from the mask's mouth, Naruto's body tumbling downwards as he was pushed away by the beam of energy. His mask shattered like china, but his body endured the blast. He twisted out of the surge of the _cero, _his charred chest heaving as he struggled for breath. The sound of a _sonido _above him caused his head to snap up. Ichigo had _thudded_ into existence behind him, a second cero primed between his horns.

Naruto's last thought was that he hadn't want to die this way.

The crimson blast rained down on him with a sonorously low roar. The former lieutenant threw up his hands to block, but the attack was too well executed, too well timed. Naruto was sent plummeting as the red beam propelled him to the ground. The explosion from the _cero _sent debris flying in a massive column of smoke and earth as pillars of magma crumbled and fell under the force of the blast.

"Ha!"

Kokuto didn't hesitate to hurl a crescent-shaped swathe of energy into the chaos. A plume of wind resounded outward, clearing the smoke and dislodging the debris. For what felt like an eternity, Kokuto waited. He waited, as Ichigo continued to struggle with his hollow half, as he fought a battle for dominance with his very soul on the line. And still, the enigmatic shinigami did not emerge. Kushanada began to emerge, sensing the chaos within Hell, fearing that their champion had failed. And yet they did not advance. As Kokuto looked on they formed a ring_-a semicircle-_surrounding their fallen champion. As one, they inclined their heads-_reverently-_as though in silent mourning. _Ha!_ As if those cold-hearted demons could actually feel such an emotion.

"Is that it?" Kokuto sneered, turning his attention back to the strawberry. "You're pathetic, Ichigo! Just give in already They're going to devour you at this rate!" He was losing his patience. The damned kid, he just wouldn't give up the ghost and give him his freedom! A dull whump alerted him to a change in the prescence of the Kushanada. Though they made no move to attack, the guardians suddenly began to change. They began to dissolve. Golden light streamed from them, from their eyes and mouth and ears, slowly pouring from every orifice and into the rubble as they left their physical forms behind. It was almost as if they'd given up on life.

Kokuto scowled. He didn't like this. Not one bit. What were they up to over there? What could they possibly hope to gain by sacrificing themselves? The kid was dead. He must be, after sustaining that kind of damage. No way he was alive. There was just no way.

"I just don't get these things...

**_"Then I suggest you, watch more closely."_**came _Naruto's_ reply as he stood from the rubble caused by Ichigo's _cero. _His Vizard mask was on now, the red and white streaks lining the left side of his face while the right half remained gone, shattered by Kokuto's blast. His clothing was tattered slightly and his left sleeve was completely gone, but his armor had returned. His gold and black eyes were still burning on the sinner ahead of him. And he looked pissed.

_'Persistent little fuck..._

"I see," Kokuto said as he coldly regarded his Shinigami opponent. "So you used your hollow mask to strengthen your _reiatsu_ and block my attack instead of attacking me yourself is that it?" He sneered, his charred lips parting cruelly as he brandished the blade before his face. "But you know what they say about the best defense_...the best defense is a good offense!"_

Naruto said nothing as he lifted his left hand up to the exposed side of his face. With a swift movement, the missing half of his mask re-grew as he waved his palm over it, the white bone moving like milk as it molded itself into a ghastly skull. He flicked his fingers and, a ways across the sands, _Yarinami_ shuddered. Seconds later, it smacked into his palm, and seconds after that the strange black scythe from before replaced it.

"Oi, Kurosaki." Naruto began slowly. "C'mere."

Ichigo turned, still warring with himself and his hollow, still clutching at his mask. Naruto slapped him. _Not gently._ His mask shattered like so much glass and the blow sent the shinigami sprawling. Not enough to wound him mind you, but more than enough to wound his pride. Scrabbling to his feet the battered vizard pounced on Naruto and seized a fistful of the boy's shihakusho, prompting the vizard to remove his own mask in response.

"What the hell was that for!" Ichigo demanded loudly.

"You needed it." said Naruto without the voice-dampening effects of his mask. "Someone had to slap some sense into you." Naruto promptly slapped the young Kurosaki again, the open handed strike serving to dislodge the vizard from his chest. Ichigo yowled and aimed a punch at his stomach. Naruto calmly countered with a knee to the groin, dropping the weakening reaper with hardly any effort.

"Are you calm, now?" The blood-stained reaper asked of his compatriot, "Or do we have to do this again?"

"Yeah, well you...ugh." Reluctantly, the strawberry released him. "But did you have to slap me a _second time,_ asshole?"

_"That_ one was for making the girl cry." Naruto clarified.

_"Huh?"_

"Nevermind." Naruto shook his head, effectively ending their arguement. "I'll handle this from here on out." the former sinner announced. "Free the others." Ichigo looked like he might argue the matter further, but he decided against it. Bounding to his feet the vizard leapt toward the withered tree where the battered forms of his friends lay. Naruto stepped between him and Kokuto, eyes burning.

"What, just you?" Kokuto gawped for a moment before recovering his customary sneer. "You honestly think you can take me on by yourself?"

"I'm not like him, you know." Naruto said as he twirled the scythe overhead, lightning crackling from its streamlined edge."My hollow is my ally, not my enemy." A peal of the mightiest thunder shook the skies as he stepped forward, glancing off his gilded armor. "And it's going to tear you apart, Kokuto." He began his advance, fingers clenching in a claw before his face.

"Oh?" Kokuto growled, edging forward. "Is that so-

_Whump._

Naruto donned his mask, looked the sinner directly in the eye _and_ released a dense wave of _reiatsu._

Kokuto's mouth hung open in shock as he and those surrounding him fell to their knees. His eyes were staring straight into Naruto's, the expression on his face a mixture of fear, fury, confusion and defeated dejection. His jaw started working but he couldn't force any sound to come out.

_'This reaitsu..._

Kokuto stopped in his tracks, his face slowly appearing over his shoulder as he curiously regarded his once fallen opponent. A look of irritation crossed his remaining eye as it regarded the recovering Shinigami behind him.

"I see," he said, leaving his back turned as he pulled his katana back out from the nothingness. "So you still think that you can—"

Kokuto's single eye went wide as his right arm was severed from his body, the limb now falling away from him in a flash. The gloved fingers were wriggling slightly as the nerve endings within them struggled to receive signal from his brain once more, dropping the sword they once held as his hand groped on blindly. Kokuto lunged forward, his left arm stretched out in an attempt to grab and wield the fallen blade.

Uzumaki Naruto buzzed into view, his body blocking the sinner's weapon, his eyes glaring out coldly from behind the frightening grin of a hollowfied mask. With a hiss, he swung his zanpakuto backwards, a bolt of lightning rocketing out from the tip of his scythe and incinerating both the togabito's arm and his sword within the pure energy.

With the other, he backhanded Kokuto.

_Not gently._

The sinner was sent sprawling, his chains rattling around him harmlessly as he crashed into the sulfur fields. A dull thud alerted him to the prescence of his attacker as Naruto phased into existence before the sinner, brandishing his scythe with an effortless grace that was eerie to behold. Undaunted, he swept forward, the soil darkening beneath his feet, withering away in the wake of this terrible, awful power.

_**"I don't **_**think**_** that I can defeat you, Kokuto."**_ he snarled, his words soft, deadly, and darkened. _**"I know. Hell itself has united against you, now. And I am going to drag you down, sinner. I am going to bury you so deep that no one will ever find you. No one will hear you. No one will even remember your name, after this day, save for me. Because I am your judge, Kokuto. I am your judge, jury and executioner. I declare you to be guilty, sinner. And the sentence is death."**_

"Th-This isn't possible...

His uniform in tatters, Naruto marched forward at the frightened sinner. Kokuto was retreating, his feet shuffling backwards as his eye trained on the Vizard in front of him. Kokuto knew that he could resort to another form of attack and continue his fight, but his mind was inexplicably filled with fear as he looked into the resolve-filled eyes of his opponent; an opponent that refused to allow his rage to consume him any longer.

"This isn't possible!" Kokuto screamed! "You're just a shinigami! You have no idea what I've gone through! How I've lived! How I've suffered! I don't deserve to be down here! I don't! You're just a shinigami! And I'm just a human! You couldn't possibly understand me!"

"I'll thank you not to say that." Abruptly, Naruto removed his mask. "I know more than you could possibly know."

_"Nani?"_

"While it _is_ true that I don't know anything about you." Naruto stated softly. "Its not like I don't understand where you're coming from. You see, I was a human too, once upon a time. I know what its like to suffer pain, and humiliation. To experience anger and suffering. To feel hatred and desire vengeance for those you've lost. It hurts, doesn't it? A deep and awful hurt, a feeling of powerlessness. I know, because I've been there. Just like you. The difference between you and I is that _I_ had people there for me, important people, precious people, who taught me right from wrong. Like the difference between just killing and wholesale slaughter. I might have ended up just like you, if I didn't have them to guide me. If I didn't have any friends." the former jinchuuriki sighed. _"Damnit._ Now I really don't want to kill you. Any chance that you'd just give up and go home?"

Kokuto scrubbed at his eye with the back of his good hand.

"S-Screw you, shinigami! I don't need anyone!"

"Somehow, I just knew you say that." Naruto shrugged, his shoulders drooping as the sinner raced towar dhim. "Ah, well. Can't say I didn't try."

Then his gaze hardened.

_**"Prepare yourself, Kokuto!"**_

With a sharp yank, he donned the mask and became the demon once more.

**_"Bankai." _**Naruto chanted softly, his form dissolving within a swell of alabaster reaitsu as he swept down upon the enraged togabito.**_"Yarinami no Tsukiumi." (Spearwave Moon) _**His scythe became something monstrous then; a looming, monstrous construct that towered over its master and the suddenly fearful sinner. Chains slithered up from the charred earth and bound Kokuto, binding him in place for what was to come.

_**"Farewell."**_

That night, Kokuto's screams could be heard throughout all of Hell.

* * *

><p><em>(Several hours later, in Karakura Town)<em>

Inoue Orihime was nervous.

She couldn't shake this feeling of nervous anticipation. Matsumoto had assured her that they would return, but this did precious little to assauge her doubts. She was still trying to come to terms with what she'd done prior to his departure. She'd kissed him. Kissed him! He'd come into Kurosaki-kun's room in search of something, and she'd kissed him full on the face! And on the lips, no less! Had she taken advantage of him? Perhaps. She'd tried to kiss Kurosaki-kun before he left, and look how that turned out. He'd met her kiss with confusion and hesitation and it was _then_ that she knew. He didn't love her. He didn't even have feelings for her. He was too fixated on _her,_ on the shinigami who'd first bestowed shinigami powers upon him.

Kurosaki-kun loved Kuchiki Rukia. Not her. Not Inoue Orihime, who loved him so desperately she felt as if her heart would burst. Inadvertantly her thoughts drifted to the one who had accepted her feelings_-if briefly-_and not shunned them. Naruto-san. She knew next to nothing about him, save what Kurosaki-kun had told her. He'd been a shinigami once, a long time ago, before Ichigo had "met" him in Hell. Inoue knew there was more to it than that, just as she knew Kurosaki-kun was keeping secrets from her. He'd kept secrets from her for a very long time, such as his "secret" feelings for Rukia.

Did Naruto keep secrets? Inoue didn't know. He seemed very, very strange, and very, very sad. There had been a sorrow in his passion when she'd kissed him, as if the action of doing so struck painfully at his soul. But there had been no hesitation or concern when he'd pulled away either. Only regret and desire. _Desire._ Inoue felt her cheeks darken at the mention of the word. He'd wanted to kiss her again, but instead he'd rushed off to Hell, to rescue the boy she'd thought she was in love with. _She_ wanted to kiss Naruto again. Even though she'd kissed him three_-three!-_seperate times on occasion, Inoue still wanted to kiss Uzumaki Naruto. She wanted to be sure. She had to be sure. She had to know, she just had to know if he was the one for her. This strange soul reaper who'd been so gentle with her, so incredibly gentle...

She shook her head, clearing it of her emotions. No, she musn't think like that! Anxiety overtook her as she stared at the gate. She couldn't tell him how she felt, how she was beginning to feel, if he never returned. _Would_ he return? Kurosaki-kun had told her his opponent would be a strong one. But Naruto-san was strong too, wasn't he? Surely he was strong enough. Surely. Silently, she resolved to ask Rangiku-san more about when he returned. Yes, when. Because he would return. He just had to. Inoue didn't want to think about what would happen if he didn't.

Now, as the sunlight rose to a new day, she and the Gotei Thirteen eagerly awaited some manner of response from the other side. Finally, something moved. Only, no one but her seemed to sense it.

From the corner of her peripheal vision she detected something. A faint opening of a black abyss against the baby blue sky, one that snapped shut just as quickly. It happened so quickly that she might have imagined it. She'd never know for certain; because at that very moment the situation regarding the gate changed. With a great and terrible cry that could wake the dead, the great gate creaked its way shut. It also began to glow.

Slowly the gaping maw that was the Hell Gate began to close. The pieces simply reformed themselves, restoring the gate to its former glory. It was as if time was flowing back to the beginning, almost like her Soten Kesshun. And then, just as it reached a pinprick of brilliance, five figures burst through the gate. She recognized them right away but it took her longer to recognize the individual leading them.

Clad in golden, skull-shaped armor, she almost missed his blond hair and blue eyes. She did not, however, miss his reaitsu. It was unmistakeably rough and coarse, much like his unshaven and whiskered cheeks. And yet it was soft, much like his hands had been against the dip of her waist. Her cheeks were beginning to burn again. The longer she looked upon them, the worse it became. But what did it matter now? They were alive!

_And they were falling!_

With a cry of dismay Orihime darted forward, summoning her Soten Kesshun to catch them. But she must've misjudged, for the net caught only Kurosaki-kun and the others, and it missed Naruto-san by the slimmest centimeter. With a cry of surprise the blond slammed into the earth and plunged beneath it like a splinter. He skidded to a stop just before Inoue, his body drilling through the street to land against her leg.

For a moment, everyone stared.

"Is he dead?" asked Toshirou.

"Taichou!" Matsumoto shrieked angrily, "Don't say such a thing!"

Yamamoto poked the boy with his cane.

"Come now, boy! Rouse yourself!"

At that very moment, Naruto twitched.

_"Owwwwwww."_ He groaned, his words muffled against the earth. "That was some landing. Remind me never to try that again."

"Gomenosai Naruto-san!" Inoue cried! "I'll heal you right away!"

The hybrid twisted his head to the side against the rubble, revealing bloody lips and several broken teeth. The golden armor whisked itself away, exposing a host of cuts and bruises on his arms and legs amidst his shredded shihakusho. Despite himself, despite his injuries, Uzuamki Naruto grinned.

"Arigatou, Inoue-chan."

Spluttered softly at the use of the affectionate suffix, the human girl set herself to the task of mending his wounds. A warm glow suffused his body and bones seconds later as the tattered remnants of his strength, exhausted from the use of bankai, began to return. Naruto slumped amidst the rubble and let out a sigh. It was over. Finally. Kokuto lay sealed within the depths of hell never to return. They'd returned to the world of the living safely, and in Naruto's case, with a parting gift. The strength of hell coursed through his veins now, empowering him now and forever.

He had a feeling he was going to need it.

He could hear Matsumoto fretting over him_-how unlike her-_and was dimly aware of Inoue speaking up as well. The two were conversing about something, and for some reason they kept exchanging glances between him and each other. The thought left him with a small chill. He knew that look. His human memories, foggy though they might be, held some weight in that regard. He'd seen women with that look before. It was, "troublesome" as Shikamaru had called it. The thought of his old friend nearly made Naruto laugh, though he soon regretted it as he remembered that part of his life was over.

He really didn't know what he was going to do now that he had a chance to start again. Rejoin the Gotei Thirteen, perhaps? He couldn't really think of anything else to do. His young life and now his afterlife had revolved around an established hiearchy. He was used to taking orders and now that he was free from Hell, there was no one to give them anymore. As he felt his shoulder reset itself, Naruto pondered this. What _did_ he want do do, exactly? If anything, he'd like to reclaim his old spot as Ukitake's lieutenant. If he couldn't have that, then he'd just have to work his way up the ranks again. Kurosaki really was losing his powers, then someone ought to watch over this town. Anything was better than desk duty. Anything but that. Anything but more paperwork! He'd had enough of that as Hokage!

"Um...Naruto-san can stay at my place tonight." Inoue interjected suddenly, answering a question he hadn't heard. Naruto arched an eyebrow at that. So they weren't taking custody of him after all? Interesting. Perhaps his future wasn't as bleak as he'd initially feared. Whatever Matsumoto said in response, he never heard. Something involving a heavy dosage of sake and such.

Ah, screw it.

He was taking a nap...

* * *

><p><em>(Several hour later)<em>

It was not until many hours later that Naruto realized just how long he'd slept. The moon was high in the sky as he rose from his bed and swung his legs over the side. That he was still alive and not in chains didn't concern him. He was awake now, and he didn't much feeling like going back to sleep. Someone had left a cup of ramen_-jackpot!-_on the nightstand and a bottle of sake, and a note:

_Naruto-kun:_

_If you're reading this then you're finally awake! The Head Captain had arranged for a hearing tomorrow to determine whether or not you can rejoin the Thirteen Court Guard Squads with your rank intact! Isn't that great! By the way, you're expected to attend as the guest of honor! No buts! Also, I want to apologize for taichou's behavior! He's really a wonderful captain. Really, he is! He's just...gotten the short end of the stick in life. Don't tell him I said that or I'll be angry tomorrow! Until then... _

_Enjoy the sake!_

_Ja ne!_

_~Matsumoto. _

"Matsumoto...

Naruto read the note over once more, shaking his head. Since when had Matsumoto become such a drinker? He really had been gone a long time, hadn't he? Briefly, he held the consideration of waking her. In the end, he decided against it. He snatched up both the bottle and the ramen as he bounded toward the window, somehow proccuring a saucer and chopsticks with which to eat and drink by in the process.

Within seconds, he was reveling in his favorite pastime. Eating ramen and enjoying a good drink. He lamented the fact that it was probably late, and that Inoue was probably asleep. He could sense the reaitsu of several shinigami nearby, and concluded that he was proably under guard, or "house arrest" though it didn't at all feel like it. He dragged himself onto the roof and for some reason, decided to lay there and stargaze.

So they were considering bringing him back, huh? With his rank intact? Whatever happened to that Shiba kid? Surely someone must have filled his empty rank by now. Or had they? Maybe they'd kept his spot open. Maybe not. Regardless, he was beginning to dread the prospect of an early morning tomorrow. His first night of true sleep since he had gone to hell and he wouldn't even be able to enjoy it! The very thought of it made him seethe. Still, the stars were out tonight, and so long as he had sake then he didn't mind too much.

Naruto was out admiring the stars when he finally sensed her prescence. Even through sake-muddled senses he sensed, rather than heard the _garaganta_ opening. He didn't deign to turn his gaze, even as the sound of footfalls, soft and measured, reached his ears. He made no move to draw his sword. He'd been expecting her for some time now, and besides, his sword was somewhere in the room below. There wasn't much he could do at the moment if they chose to attack him.

"Looks like you made it out after all." He sighed, turning his gaze away from the stars. "Tia Halibel." The espada nodded stiffly, but said nothing. She did not immediately sit when offered. She stood for a moment longer, gauging him for any manner of reaction. Only when she was certain that this was not some elaborate ruse, did Halibel permit herself to lower her guard and sit beside him.

"I suppose I should thank you, shinigami." she said.

Naruto shrugged.

"I suppose you should."

Halibel gawped, very much unlike herself.

"What kind of response is that?"

"It's _my_ response." Naruto took another sip of sake and offered her some. Halibel eyed him dubiously. His breath stank of alchohol, and he expected her to indulge in it? She took the saucer from him, eyeing her fellow hybrid with much trepidation as he filled her dish to the brim with liquid. He really expected her to drink this? She lifted it to her lips and knocked it back in one smooth motion, wincing as the burning liquid scalded her throat and warmed her belly. Naruto offered her another and she accepted it.

"Where are your allies?" She asked, her words slightly slurred. Blasted sake. "I find it difficult to believe that they would not place you under guard.

Naruto shrugged.

"Rangiku's downstairs somwhere. I think?" He stretched his senses outward, searching for any sign of his former companion. Surely enough, he detected her reaitsu, just out of reach, in the rooms below. Inoue was there as well. He put the matter from his mind before it could consume him. He was not going to think such thoughts. He'd save that untit morning.

"Are they important to you?" When he glanced askance at her, the espada did not avert her gaze. "Your friends."

Naruto laughed.

"I wouldn't call them friends! I've been trapped in hell for centuries, unlike you, espada-san. All of my friends are dead and buried." He shook his head, sensing that his words had been too harsh. "I'd say they're more of an aquaintances' than friends."

"But they _are_ important to you?" Halibel pressed.

"Of course." Naruto took another sip of sake and refilled her dish. "Aren't your fraccion important to you?"

"Naturally."

"Where are they, by the way?"

"I left them behind-

"You didn't!"

_-in Hueco Muendo."_ Halibel finished, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly. "I did not wish to attract unecessary attention with my prescence."

Ah.

Hueco Muendo, the infamous world where the hollows resided. It was also said that no shinigami had ever returned from there. Not that it mattered. He'd never been to Hueco Muendo before! And he had absolutely no intention of ever going there. Time to change the subject.

"So...you came all this way just to thank me?"

"Perhaps." Halibel mused vaguely.

Naruto nodded. It made sense.

"So what will you do now?" he asked Halibel.

At first, Halibel did not honour him with a response. She held out the dish for him to fill and he did so. She downed it in one gulp, her eyes tearing every so slightly as it found its way past her lips. How long had it been since she'd last had sake? She couldn't remember. Her human memories were still lost to her, and yet, this somehow felt nostalgic, as if she'd been here before. Drinking with him, before. She dismissed it as folly. Her human memories were inconsequential. That was a life she did not remember nor did she care to. The past was the past, and that was it would ever be. What mattered, what's important, is the future.

She stood, her face upturned toward the heavens; streamlined against the light of the full moon. She reached up to her face, absentmindedly fingering her jawline; her fingers trailing across the edge of her cheek. Without the jagged scarmask, she could almost pass for human. But thoughts of humanity were the furthest thing from her mind. Would, that she knew what to do now, now that she finally had her freedom. What to do now, indeed. She could feel his gaze lingering upon her, but she did little to divert it. Without him-without this shinigami-she'd still be trapped in hell. She owed him a debt. A debt she might never be able to repay. And Halibel Tia always repaid her debts. This was only her honor speaking, and her honor was all she had left from her days as an Espada.

So let him look. Let him look upon her; let him lust after her beauty. Let him come to her. Let the reaper come to the shark; let them become one and descend into the throes of sheer bliss and utter ecstaasty. Her cheeks burned at the sudden turn her thoughts had taken. Just who was this boy? Who was he, this shinigami that refused to be baited, goaded, or provoked into a response? He was infuriating. That was what he was. Maddening. And so she said nothing. And he, in reply, said nothing. And all the while, Halibel burned silently under the weight of his scrutinizing glare.

Finally, she tore her gaze away from the sky and sighed.

"I think, my fraccion and I will return to Hueco Muendo for a time."

She stole a glance at him, half expecting a vehement protest from her erstwhile ally. Something. Anything. Anything at all. Instead, he confounded her once again. He offered his shoulders in a shrug. As if it didn't concern him in the slightest! He did not protest, did not argue the point with her, he didn't even bat an eyelash! Instead he raised and lowered his shoulders in the typical expression of human nonchalance!

Naruto just _shrugged._

"If that's what you want, then I'm not going to stop you."

"What I want?" Halibel repeated the question aloud, mulling over in her head. Then she took action. She took three, swift steps forward, before vanishing in a sudden burst of sonido. Naruto blinked, wondering at the reason for her sudden departure. She hadn't gone very far; he could still detect the oppressive aura of her reaitsu. He waited and he watched and when he was certain that she wasn't going to reappear, only then did he allow himself to exhale.

"Well," He began softly, "That was anticlimatic."

Abruptly the tercera reappeared, fists clenched and lips parted in a small cry of exasperation. Naruto bolted backwards, the roof tiles clattering beneath his feet while muddled senses struggled to comprehend the reasons for her sudden return. She stormed forward, her sword leaving its sheathe and sticking into his sleeve, pinning him to the rooftop with enough force to stun him. Belatedly, he realized she'd only struck the fabric, not his actual wrist, numbed though it was.

"You infuriate me, Uzumaki Naruto!"

Naruto blinked, aghast.

_"Huh?"_

She leaned over him, stradling him. Her breasts brushed against Naruto's chest and he shuddered. _Gods! _They were nearly as full as Inoue's, if not more! Her lack of clothing notwithstanding, he found that one hand had risen to cup his cheek, whilst the other maintained a firm grip upon her sword, pinning him where he lay. Her nearly bare body, brushing against his own, was enough to send his heart racing into overdrive. Curse her lack of clothing!

"First I save you," She hissed huskily, "And then you flee. Then you save not only me but my fraccion and _you_ flee before I can offer my thanks. Not only that, but you provide an escape for us as well. How am I to thank you then, Uzuamki Naruto? You have done us a great service, and we are indebted to you." Naruto gulpted. When she said indebt, he couldn't help it. He started thinking dirty thoughts.

"There's really no need to-

She kissed him then. It wasn't at all like Inoue. There was nothing soft, tentative, or shy about this kiss. It was sharp, rough, and forceful as she pressed her lips against his, cleaving her body against him with the repressed passion of an eternity. It was not a normal kiss. There was nothing "normal" about it. Then again, Naruto had never kissed an arrancar like Halibel before. Come to think of it, he'd never kissed an arrancar, either.

His mind exploded into white as his arms took control, spreading themselves across her back. He was so completely taken aback by her kiss that he hardly noticed when his left hand began to cup her firm ass and his right palm took up residence on her jaw. He deepened the kiss as he pressed his body against hers, pushing her back against the roof. Her hands were just as explorative, her nimble fingertips running along his chest and stomach.

After almost a full minute, they pulled away from one another, his light sapphire eyes looking deeply into hers. She wore a subtle expression of amusement on her face as she returned his gaze, her grin turning slightly downward as she registered the surprise on his face.

"Is something wrong?"

"No!" Naruto shouted, only to realize how he sounded. "No. Nothing's wrong." He propped himself up on his elbows. Gods she was beautiful! It took all of his willpower to keep from ravaging her here on this rooftop. But he wasn't about to savage the first girl willing to do him either. He wasn't _that_ horny.

"Do you not desire me?" Halibel asked, mistaking his hesitation for indecision.

"It's not that." Naruto shook his head. "It's just...I...this is all so sudden." He buried his face in her neck, enjoying the warmth of her dark skin on his cheeks and the smell of her hair in his nostrils. He felt her arms tighten around him and her breathing quickened, her breasts heaving up and down against his chest. He savored it, as her lips sought his, this time lacking hesitation of any sort.

"Kiss me then, shinigami." She challenged, her breath warm in his face. "Prove to me that you are worthy of me." Was that a coy smile playing at the edge of her lips? Naruto wasn't about to take that for granted. He wasn't about to pass up a challange, either. Especially when it was his manhood being called into question.

_"What!"_

She kissed him again, and this time, their kiss had passion.

It was, after all, only a temporary arrangement.

**A/N: Aaaaaaand the harem train has officially left the station, ladies and gentlemen! Poor Naruto, being chained up for so long! He really needs to get out every few centuries or so! Perhaps once this sinner business is taken care of, he will! But while it might include the recent filler arc, it WILL include the current Fullbring arc and will extend far and beyond as the manga progresses. Thanks once again to Hollow Schutte for giving me this idea, and I hoped you liked the tweaks I made to the actual movie! Btw, does anyone think I should do that blasted filler arc with the mod souls? I mean, it has Nozomi in it and all, but I dunno? Tell me what you think!**

**R&R! =D**


	5. Edge of Fate Prelude

**A/N: Well, after much thought and much adue, I've decided to skip the Mod Soul Arc. Oh, it still happened and a certain character will still be present there after, but other than that, I won't go into to much detail on the tedious matters of the Reigai and such. In other news I'm certainly beginning to enjoy writing this now XD Now that the Fullbring arc is over, and we have to wait ANOTHER WEEK for the next blasted chapter of Bleach, I suppose I'll have plenty of time to write, no? Anywho, I sincerely hope that you enjoy this chapter to its utmost; because that preview in the last chapter left something to be desired, no? Well, I hope that this lives up to it, so lets get started, shall we? **

**Prepare for the epicness!**

_"Where's the fun in being dead if you can't live a little?"_

_~Naruto._

_**Edge of Fate (Prelude)**_

Kurosaki Ichigo was still struggling to accept the loss of his shinigami powers.

He was a normal human being now. Living a normal life. Hadn't he always wanted that? To be normal? To be humanity? To be freed from a life of seeing spirits, talking to ghosts and fighting hollow? Hadn't he? His mind told him yes, but his heart...well, maybe he hadn't entirely accepted the loss of his powers just yet. He was working on it though. Slowly but surely.

Not that he'd had any choice in the matter, mind you.

After the events of Hell, he'd soon found his shinigami powers drying up. It hadn't been long before Rukia paid a visit, before she bid him farewell, right before his eyes. He knew she was around_-or so he told himself-_he simply couldn't hear or see her. Just as he knew that the work of the blond shinigami known as Naruto continued around him, unnoticed, but ever present...

_(Flashback)_

_"Wait a second!" Ichigo exclaimed aghast gawping at the ceramic mask the blond held in hand. "You're a vizard?" The latter loosed an exasperated sigh, whisking the demonic visage away from his face; the blue and red streaks dissipating upon contact with his fingers, much to the dismay of his fellow hybrid._

_"Figure that out yourself, did you?"_

_A grimace of self castigation._

_"Wait till you see my resurreccion." The blond grinned back blackly. "Ah, wait! That's no good. If you saw it, I'd have to kill you. Ha! That'd suck for you, ya know?" He finished with a sly chuckle, leaving the young Kurosaki ill at ease._

_"Wha-_

_Ichigo opened his mouth then clicked it shut, at a loss. Not just for words, but for anything else as well. Naruto was an enigma to him. Ever since his escape from hell months before, the blond had refused to return to Soul Society. As stubborn in death as he'd been in life, the enigmatic hybrid simply preferred the world of the living as opposed the strict regulations of the Sereitei. Apparently, he was staying with Orihime, until Hat n' Clogs finished working on his gigai; until he found himself a place of his own. Until then Naruto was just another ryoka-albeit one with a released state-another wayward soul residing in the proverbial ditch that was Karakura Town. _

_"Kidding!" The blonde's voice, snapped him back to the present. "I'm just kidding. I wouldn't kill you. Maim you beyond repair maybe, but kill you? Nah." Naruto slapped him on the back, the gesture of camraderie not lost on the younger ryoka. "Neh, Nozomi-chan?"_

_Ichigo envied him that, the man's light-hearted, almost carefree attitude. It must be nice, having already lived through one life, moving casually onto the next. He spoke little of his past; where he'd come from remained a mystery. As did the circumstances leading to his indefinite stay in hell. As far as Ichigo knew from what he'd been told that day it was a sensitive subject that the warrior didn't care to revisit._

_He was still having difficulty coming to terms with it all with gradual lessening of his reaitsu. It was nearly gone now, drained away by his battle with ÅŒko Yushima, the creator of the Mod Souls. What a battle that had been! They'd nearly lost someone very near and dear to them. He could see her now, even with what little spiritual pressure he'd had remaining, standing beside the smiling shinigami._

_Nozomi KujÅ, was a short, petite girl with chin length dark green hair and purplish-red eyes. She was also a Mod-Soul. She wore a red thigh length skirt with a cream coloured cardigan over it. She also wore long black thigh-high socks complete with black slippers, slippers that scraped now across the rooftop as the former lieutenant pulled her close and into his chest. Nozomi's face turned as dark as her eye shadow._

_"Naruto-kun, you're embarassing me..._

_The blond grinned, a gorgeous white streak in the fading afternoon light._

_"I'm doing my job, then."_

_Nozomi squeaked._

_Ichigo facepalmed._

_"Seriously? No, don't mind me, I'm only standing RIGHT HERE..._

_"Really?" Naruto cackled, looping an arm around Nozomi's waist. "Alright then, we don't mind! Right Nozomi?" He whispered something into her ear, and the girl, already dark from embarassment, turned positively pink. __The substitute shinigami, meanwhile had the sudden urge to strangle his senpai for his continued acts of indecency._

_"Gods, you're ridiculous!"_

_Naruto had proven instrumental in breaking the soul chain that kept her and __KagerÅza Inaba fused together. Putting that aside, he'd ruthlessly dispatched said Mod-Soul, with all the righteous fury of an overprotective brother/lover. That she hadn't vanished in turn with Inaba remained a miracle in and of itself. Perhaps it was her strong attachment to the hyperactive blond who'd so righteously preserved her existence? Come to think of it...that had been the one time he'd truly seen the blond angry. A shudder. He never wanted to see that again. Ever. And to think, Naruto had a release state? Scary stuff..._

_"Well, if you don't have anymore questions, I'd best be going." Naruto said. "Orihime's cooking tonight. Pizza and peanbutter with a dash of ramen on the side." Only Uzumaki Naruto could mention those three food groups in a row, with a straight face. Despite that, __Ichigo blanched. __How could anyone LIKE Orihime's cooking? No, scratch that. Could you even _put_ peanutbutter on pizza? And ramen? He felt ill just thinking about it..._

_"T-Take care, Ichigo." Nozomi blushed beneath his gaze._

_"Of course he will!" Naruto laughed at the expense of his fellow hybrid. "And if he doesn't, well, we'll just have to kick some fight back into him, ya know?"_

_"Oi!" Ichigo barked, scowling as the pair turned away. "You'd better take good care of her!"_

_"Maa, maa, I know, I know." The blonde dismissed as he started walking down the darkened street before suddenly combusting into a burst of smoke. Kurosaki Ichigo blinked in confusion before shaking his head and walking back towards his home, his fading reaitsu in tow._

_Today had been a long day..._

_(End Flashback)_

Now, one year and five months later, he was about to start his third year in highschool. After seventeen long months, he was ready to resume some semblance of normalcy in Karakura Town. Yeah, right. He still had the substitute badge in his pocket. He touched it every now again, just to be certain it was still there. But that was in the past. He was sure he could bring himself to forget, Ichigo was, in time.

Ah, if only it were that easy.

He bumped into someone. Slammed into, more likely. He'd been so focused on his thoughts that he hadn't even bothered to look where he was going. As he turned the corner in his haste to make it to school, something struck him. Something hard. Someone's forehead. Stars_-entire planets-_exploded before the ex-shinigami's vision, leaving him deaf and dumb. He toppled backward, his forehead kissing the pavement_-which seemed far softer in comparison-_his soul_ y_owling in pain.

_Fucking ouch!_

Ichigo gritted his teeth into a cage to imprison the various snarls, imprecations, and occasional curses that sought to hurl themselves from his throat at the one who'd knocked him down. Instead, he propped himself up on his elbows and glared bloody red daggers at the one who'd offended him. Of course, that involved staring straight into the sun, a most foolish prospect considering where he lay on the asphalt.

"Gomen, Kurosaki-kun!" a voice cried.

Ichigo creaked open an eye.

_Inoue?_

He couldn't be certain.

Why, you ask?

Because she looked, well, a wreck.

Indeed, she was disheveled as they came; skirt halfway buttoned, blouse hanging open, leaving little to the imagination within. Her strawberry blonde hair lay plastered to her forehead, covered in a fine sheen of persperation. Sweat, perhaps? It was as if she'd just rolled out of bed. Quite likely, considering her bedraggled state. At that very moment Ichigo just so happened to notice what looked like a small welt on her neck. Wait. Were those...teeth marks? He sat up, suddenly scrutinizing.

"Where did you get that mark, Inoue?"

Inoue_ squeaked_, such was her embarassment.

"I...um...well...you see...

Ichigo scratched his head.

_'Why is she so flustered?'_

"I...I have to go!" She sputtered on a sudden, scurrying backwards, around the corner, and out of sight. Ichigo watched her go wondering at what he'd just witnessed. He had never seen her so flustered before. Ever. And what was that mark on her neck? It almost looked like...no. It couldn't be. That mark couldn't possibly have been a hick-

Something sharp struck his neck. Something Hard. _Ow!_ Ichigo winced, noting a small pebble at his feet mere moments before another one struck the back of his head. A small snarl left his lips, unbidden as he bent to retrieve the rock and return it from whence it came. Another projectile struck him, this one in the small of his back.

"

"Yo, Ichigo!"

Kurosaki spun around, eyes bulging as he saw the one who had spoken.

There, crouched on the stairwell, decked out in the full uniform of a Karakura Highschool Student, was Uzumaki Naruto. The one-time vizard and full-time soul reaper flashed the peace sign at him before vaulting over the railing and landing; effortlessly alighting upon a nearby lampost, before swinging himself to the street below. All of this, and no one seemed to notice the sudden feat of superhuman speed and agility.

"Long time no see!" he remarked, slinging an arm around the former substitute's shoulders. "How've you been?"

"What the hell are you doing here!" Ichigo thrashed, shaking himself free of the blond shinigami. "And why can I _see_ you!" The blond danced away as the strawberry slung the likes of a half-hearted punch toward him, grinning all the while, much to the latter's dismay.

"I'm in a gigai, fool." Naruto clarified, tugging at his cheek. "And why wouldn't I be here? Someone has to make sure that Quincy doesn't overwork himself." The words hit the former soul reaper like a ton of bricks. Why wouldn't I be here. Someone has to make sure that Quincy doesn't overwork himself. Naruto wearing a gigai when he could not be seen otherwise.

"They assigned YOU?"

Naruto grinned.

"Uzumaki Naruto, temporary shinigami guardian of Karakura Town, at your service!"

"That's a mouthful."

"Isn't it?" Naruto laughed.

"I thought you weren't going back to the Soul Society." The blonde's expression soured, but only for a moment.

"Ever met Unohana-taichou?"

"Can't say that I have." Ichigo answered, wondering where this was leading.

"She is...difficult to refuse." Naruto finished, as though this somehow explained everything. "They wanted to make me a captain, but captain meant paperwork, and paperwork is _evil_ so I wanted something else, ya know?" He gestured to his attire the student uniform of Karakura High. "This, was that option." He laughed; it was a deep throaty sound too genuine to be false. "I never thought I'd find myself in school again!"

"Again?"

Naruto blanched,

"Ehehe...pretend you didn't hear that." He gave a wry chuckle and scratched the back of his head. "It wouldn't do for Rukia-chan to know how much I'm enjoying this." At the mention of the reaper, Ichigo visibly stiffened. Naruto continued to ramble on, mentioning just how readily Nozomi was adapting to school life as a second year, despite those who would have had her be destroyed simply for being a Mod-Soul. Ichigo wasn't listening to that. He wanted answers; answers to the questions that'd been nagging him now for seventeen months. He wanted to know:

"How's she been?"

The ex-shinigami. regretted the words as soon as he said them.

Naruto stopped laughing. Something danced in his eyes, just then. Uncertainty. It was gone before Ichigo could evern as register let alone question it. Naruto turned his back to his former ally, lips pursed, arms folded, eyes narrowed.

"She's been...busy."

Something in his eyes, prevented Ichigo from inquiring further and he stopped himself before he could. Right. It wasn't any of his business. Not anymore. He'd left that life_-along with his shinigami powers-_behind him. There was no sense in dwelling on it. There was, however, another matter that boded dwelling upon. The mark on Inoue's neck, where did it come from? Where had it come from, for that matter? The only one who lived with her was...

"Say, you wouldn't happen to know why Inoue was so flustered earlier, would you?"

"..."

Ichigo gawped.

"You didn't."

Naruto blinked.

"Didn't what?"

"You...and Inoue." The strawberry flushed, making an awkward, tenting motion with his fingers as he pushed them together. It took the dumbfounded blond a few seconds to realize just what the student meant, but once he knew, _he knew._

Now it was Naruto's turn to blush.

"Yeah...that was me."

Ichigo felt a wave of bile course up his throat.

"How...?" The words were more a small, doomed wish than an actual question. "How long?"

"We'll have been together a year the day after tomorrow." Naruto met his gaze steadfastly. "She had a thing for you, ya know? But you never acknowledged her, Kurosaki. In the time it took for her to open up to me, I discovered something." His eyes hardened, becoming twin pools of golden amber. "She's nowhere near as weak as you think she is or ought to be. It's almost a shame you never noticed that."

Naruto walked a few steps forward, until his shoulder was brushing against his own. He did not turn his head. Did not blink. Did not give any sign that he saw or acknowledged the boy standing besides him. He stared straight ahead, headless of the seeking gaze that sought him out. Ichigo'd the strangest feeling,, should he ever gain the blonde's eye he wouldn't like what he found there.

"She's happy now, ya know?" Naruto added, the ghost of a smile touching his lips. "Happier than she's been, in a long time. Just thought you'd like to know that." He touched at the air with a finger, and the the sky split before them. A dry wind slashed across Kurosaki's throat, leaving his mouth dry. He blinked, blinking flecks of sand from his eyes as the portal tore and roared its way into existence.

"I'll see you in class." Naruto breathed in the boy's ear, his words barely heard over the howling wind. "Until then, do try and stay out of trouble. It'd be a pain to have an bail you out again, ya know?"

"But what about the town?"

Naruto laughed, not even deigning to face him.

"My body departs, but my soul remains."

_"What?"_

"Take heart." Naruto replied cryptically. "Your town is safe."

Ichigo turned to say something, anything, but it was already too late. The teeth of the garaganta snapped shut behind him with a darkened rumble. By the time he reached for the rift, it too, was gone. No, scratch that. He was gone.

Uzumaki Naruto was gone...

_...back to Hueco Muendo._

**A/N: Aaaaaaand there we go! In the end I decided to just pass over the Mod Soul Arc. Too much trouble. But to replace it I'll be making an arc of my own to satisfy the masses enjoying that story. What that arc will be, I shall not reveal, but it will take place BEFORE the Fullbring Arc and suffice it to say Halibel an her fraccion as well as Hueco Muendo, will be heavily involved. Also, it is heavily implied that Naruto still has some semblance of his shinobi powers, clones, rasengan, sage mode, etc. Maybe even the Kyuubi cloak? Next chapter is from Naruto, Halibel and each of her fraccion's perspective. As for the evilly wicked Vandenreich, if they think they're taking over Hueco Muendo so easily with Naruto around...GUESS AGAIN! They'll be in for one hell of a fight!**

**Look forward to it!**

**R&R! =D**


	6. Invasion

**A/N: Okay, just read the latest Bleach manga chapter. And I'll only say this once SPOILER ALERT! READ NOT FURTHER IF YE DO NOT WISH TE KNOW! Kirge can apparently absorb reishi from nearly everyone, including arrancars. While I will not spoil who diesin this chapter, needless to say, it isn't pretty. Thank god Ichigo finally whipped out his Bankai and leveled the playing field. **

**Still, that being said, in this story, with Naruto in Hueco Muendo, the Quincy invasion may not proceed as smoothly as planned. Remember, this takes place BEFORE Ichigo regains his powers and BEFROE The Vandenreich successfully invade Hueco Muendo. And those Quincy bastards won't succeed at all in that regard if I have anything to say about it...**

**Excuse any OOC'ness! Naruto's been locked up in hell for a loooong time, and he's suffered the death of a loved one. Its only natural that he's so harsh and cynical as a shinigami; as opposed to the naive and carefree shinobi he once was. Who is this mystery girl, you ask? Will other Naruto characters eventually reappear as arrancar or shinigami, you ask?**

**Sore wa himitsu desu!**

** In other words...**

**...its a secret!**

_"The difference between you and I is not anger, nor is it hatred. It is...heart."_

_~Halibel._

**Invasion**

A jagged line of ruby energy erupted from either side of the horizon before it roared open as a _garganta. _Someone sighed and stepped forth from the blackness of the portal, eye gleaming like hot coals, knowing that they were close; one step closer to their destination. To them. To the ones they'd been longing to see for these past twelve months. Now, it was no longer a matter of patiently biding his time, waiting for a chance to be sent forth from Soul Society.

Now, for the moment, he was free.

Free!

_Ba-dump._

Free to find trouble, that is.

For, scarce had Uzumaki Naruto set foot in Hueco Muendo than he found himself confronted with a ghoulish reaitsu. It spread across the sky, blanketing the land with a thick, acrid stench. T'was a foul prescence; one he'd never felt in all his life. And it was coming straight for him. It looked a great deal like a giant arrow he mused, dragging forth a trail of reishi as he dragged _his blade _from from its scabard, the zanpakutou clearing its sheathe with a whispy hiss.

**"Fade to black."** He sighed, eyes snapping slitted, fingers driving across the pristine steel of his most beloved blade. He let the silence dangle there, a moment longer, eyes widening, fists clenching, body shuddering beneath the sudden surge of ecstasy that came with his zanpakutou's ressureccion, his second relese. Rather than utter the words in spanish, as most arrancar were wont, he let the name roll forth from his lips in japanese; uttering a series of syllables, invoking the name of the creature he'd once housed, the title of the demon lord itself. Not the faux release that summoned another scythe; a simple manifestation of his companion's power. Oh, no.

_**"Kurama."**_

_This was hell itself._

* * *

><p>Apache felt, rather than sensed his arrival.<p>

They were in the midst of fighting through their these intruders, these strange, bow-wielding intruders, when one such intruder launched a massive arrow towards the south. It hurtled towards its target, cresting a dune before disappearing from sight. _That_ was when she felt it. Like an iron curtain draped across her shoulders; an icy knife wedged in the very depths of her soul. She'd never before experienced a reaitsu of such magnitude, no. Wait. That wasn't quite right. She'd felt something like this once before, very weak compared to what she felt now, but if the two were one in the same-

_Shit._ Was her next thought as the spiritual pressure abruptly thickened, indiscriminately forcing her, her comrades, and the enemy to their knees._ Shit shit shit SHIT! _She cast a gaze about for her sisters in arms; her lips already forming the beginnings of a warning, crying out to Sun-Sun and Mila Rose, but it was too late. Much too late.

Her hair blew across her face as _something_ passed with impossible speed overhead. She glimpsed nothing more than a ripple in the air itself, the faintest whisp of steam or mist wadded into a ball like so much discarded parchment. Had she not been looking right at it, indeed, _expecting_ something very much like it, she'd never have known the like of it, even if it was there. Even so, she was not prepared for the arrival.

_For his arrival._

The world erupted. The arid sand was the blood of Hueco Muendo, gushing from the wound inflicted by its attacker's invisible hammer. A ferocious tide slammed into Apache, threatening to knock her from her feet and for the first time she was actually grateful for the tight grip of the clay below her feet. Sand, bits of dead trees _-even a smattering of lesser hollows and snakes-_rained across the eternal night, blinding Apache to anything, everything else. Her ears rang with a deafening crack, followed by a second, yet no less deadly splash. Cold sand spattered her face, the surface of the desert roiled against her legs, and even without sight Emilou Apache knew something had happened. What that was, remained to be seen, but it was something.

Something big.

"Intruder!" One of her opressors cried. "Suppress him immediately!"

Squinting through bloodshot eyes, she struggled to find shape and form in the desert cloud. Black smoke billowed all around, and in some places, the sand had crystalliazed in sheer fear from the resulting impact. And then she saw it. A blur. A snatch of motion from the corner of the eye. Of the many opponents surrounding_-Quincy, she recalled-_one uttered an ghastly rattle; the kind that came from a man experiencing his last moments of life.

Or in this case, afterlife.

Because something had just speared one of the insufferable humans; effortlessly tearing through blood and bone, ripping open a hole in the man's chest. With an ear-splitting cry of mournful loss a trio of his comrades opened fire, pepperin it_-whatever it was-_with a an unholy amount of arrows.

The shadow turned, regarding the three quincy as one would an ant beneath their boot. Its jaws cracked opened; the sound eclipsed by an earsplitting roar. She'd scarce the time to skitter backwards narrowly escaping in a thud of _sonido_ as the beast let loose a massive blast of scintilatting scarlet. _Cero!_ Apache recognized the hollow technique as it streaked past, digging a deep furrow through the enemy squad. Most_-the lucky ones-_simply evaporated. The remaining few, the unlucky ones who'd managed to escape the blast with varying burns, found themselves face to face with the terror of death.

Sweeping itself free from the smoke, clad in both blood and bone, ignoring the hail of reishi particles peppering its skin, a kitsune lumbered into view. But not just any kitsune was this creature. Roughly half the size of Yammy's release form, this great behemoth, dwarfed only by the ruined dome of Las Noches, nine red-tipped tails, each appendage moving in accordance of its master's will, was a thing straight out of nightmare.

And it was coming for them.

The fraccion each seemed to share but a single thought; they needed to distance themselves from this, this..._abomination,_ before they were caught up in the battle. If such an outright slaughter could be called such. Massacre, was more likely. Ignoring the withering hail of reishi, the fox padded toward the infantry swatting them aside with both claw and fang, devouring some, trampling others.

The monstrous fox brought a single paw to bear, crushing the archers underfoot before they could muster a counterattack. Nine tails of pure fury lashed at the sands reducing Quincies to a pulp, feeble stains of blood and bodily fluids upon the unforgiving sands of Hueco Muendo. Its cries split the earth, tails sundered the sky leagues in the distance, its very prescence, though not a direct threat to the Tres Bestia, threatened to extinguish their souls entirely, even as they retreated to a safe distance upon a nearby hillock.

"W-W-What is that thing?" Mila Rose sputtered, taken aback by the carnage before them.

"Hell if I know!" Apache snapped back, truly at a loss for words fo the first time in her life.

Sun-Sun could only look on in silence; could only bring a long sleeved hand to cover her mouth; her awe, shock, horror.

_'This reaitsu..._

Recognizing the futility of their efforts, some of the Quincies made as if to flee. Only one succeeded in escaping, a whisp of shadow dissipating before the massive fox belched a second, equally massive cero forth from its bloodstained jaws. This time, there were no survivors. Those who'd already broken rank and fled were amongst the last to die, a slow, smoldering death as their bodies burned beneath a curtain of ash and flame.

Apache couldn't stop staring at it, not the destruction wrought by the cero, but rather, the gaping hole in the kitsune's chest. Clearly this was a hollow. But something about it...well, something felt off. Despite its rampage, it made no move to attack the Tres Bestia. If anything, it seemed to be _avoiding_ them. He focused only on the Quincy and not the arrancar, though they were surely the greater threat.

And then the kitsune did something stranger still. It rose on its hind quarters, frowned, as if to observe the damage it had wrought. Then, it took a slow, tottering step forth, forward, and even as it did, the hulking hollow suffered yet _another_ transformation. This _monster_ this unstoppable juggernaut of raw, blistering fury, a rage that made Allon look tame by comparison, began to shrink. Its feralized features and snout receded in the wake of this sudden metamorphosis its hackles fell slack. Snap. Crackle. Pop. Bone withdrew, flesh reformed, only to find itself bound anew in an even more terrifying form than before.

_Segunda Etapa._

They'd only ever heard rumors of this form. The second form of release, rare, even amongst espada. Not even their mistress could perform such a feat. And here, this boy, no shinigami nor arrancar both, had achieved both states of release? Doubtless his earlier, bestial form had been his initial release. But what of his zanpakutou. What of his shikai and bankai? Could he still perform them, with his body in such an unsustainable state?

He came towards them now, striding across the dunes before vanishing in a dull thud of something not quite shunpo, not entirely sonido but somewhere between. Apache felt the cold touch of death upon the nape of her neck; the icy tendrils of demise threatening to pluck her non-existent heart from he chest. Because he was here; because he was standing behind them. Close enough to see. To touch. Yet none dared turn. Nor did they breathe, such was their fear; such was the tension, that they might be devoured by it by this fearsome creature come from hell itself.

The reaitsu abated abruptly as it'd began, leaving each arrancar gasping for breath.

"..."

"N-Na...

A sursurus of whispers arose from the surviving trio, Sun-Sun, Mila Rose, and of course, Apache herself. Finally the latter forced herself to speak. "Naruto-sama?" It was more a small, doomd wish than an actual question. The shinigami responsible for their_-and that their misstress-_continued freedom. The only Soul Reaper they paid respect to. They hadn't seen him in nearly a year. Could this truly be him? This god of terror and destruction?

"Like he'd come here," Mila Rose grumbled beneath her breath.

"I'd watch what I say, were I you." Sun-Sun cautioned.

And, as if on cue, the hollowfied avatar turned. This strange, otherwordly being cocked its head aside regarding the three fraccion with a frightening complaceny. He laughed; it was a deep, throaty sound. His shadow flickered in the moonlight, gave a slow gesture; bid them turn, bid them to do as he say.

_**"Turn around, ladies."**_

Their shoulders slumping, as if they'd consigned herself to whatever fate might hold in store, they obeyed. What Apache saw there froze her blood in her very veins. She could not speak for Sun-Sun or Mila Rose, but her first instinct was to flee. To run, to hide, to get as far away from this...this thing, as possible. Within good reason.

The figure looming before her came straight from the fairy tales her papa read to her every night-one of the darker ones. Shorter than Allon, he nonetheless loomed over her, filling the entirety of her vision. A demonic suit of armor concealed his body head-to-toe: midnight black steel, with thick plates of bone that gleamed unnaturally white in the orange glow of the flames.

Apache felt a wave of fear as she failed to recognize that form, the flames giving it the appearance of a demon rising up from hell.

From small spines of bone on his shoulders hung a heavy cloak of royal crimson, a coincidental match to the ocean of blood at his feet. The flickering flames sent his shadow dancing across the sands, as though guided by some mad puppeteer. Atop it all, a helm of bone, a skull bound in iron bands. Nothing human showed through the grim facade, no soul peered from the gaping black holes in the mask.

With a desperate surge of will, the young woman pulled her gaze away from the hideous mask, glancing downward instead. Her eyes fixed momentarily on the cord about his neck. It dipped down beneath the bone-covered-breasplate, linked perhaps to some pendant or amulet she couldn't see. Her eyes traveled lower still, to the large sword upon which his gauntlet rested. It stood upright, butt of the handle upon the ground. The blade, from its wrapped cloth, to its tapered tip, was adorned with miniscule engravings-abstract shapes that gave the impression, though not the detail, of thousands of figures engaged in the cruelest, most brutal acts of war.

Apache whimpered quietly as she saw that there were worst things to stare at than the blackened eye sockets of the helm. Things like that sword, and the ghoulish engraved upon it, abominations that seemed almost to move on their own, independent from the dancing torchlight, like those tails, those deadly nine flails of spiked bone and crimson lapping at the blood beneath her feet as if they were a thing alive...

And he was looking at her. Right. At. Her.

_**"Do you know who I am, Apache?"**_ His voice echoed across the sands, ringing with the faintest of echoes. He swiveled, taking each of them in turn. "Do you, Sun-Sun? Or you, Mila Rose?" The latter froze. Her legs locked, knees turned to jelly. The figure was threatening, true, yet at the same time, his voice bellied a strange kindness. Surely he couldn't be...could he?

She froze.

"I...

_**"Do you know why I am here, arrancar?"**_ His voice like death slithered into their ears. _**"Do you know why I've come?"**_

"W-Who are you?" Mila Rose found herself entranced, ensorcelled by this dark, brooding warrior. "Why have you come?"

**"So kind of you to ask."** A pause, heavy with consideration. **"So this is Hueco Muendo, then? To think, I'd sworn never to set foot in this ream."** He chortled softly, lost in his own amusement. **"Ah, but I digress. You will take me to see your mistress." **This was not a question.

"And if we refuse?" Apache all but hissed. This man was dangerous. She wasn't letting him within three feet of her master. _Yeah, as if we could stop this guy_! A pang of dread stole at her heart as she unbuckled the bracelets at her wrist. Stop, _him?_ Not likely! If this man decided to press the issue, they were all dead. And _damn_ but it looked like he was going to press things

**"Now why would you want to do something like that?" **His hand hovered over the hilt of his weapon and that black, undulating blade, seemed to shiver with bit back a whimper of fear. Tres Bestia couldn't hope to stop him with _or_ without ressureccion. She seriously doubted even Allon would be able to much of anything more than slow this guy down.

"You still haven't told us who you are." Mila Rose pressed softly.

The hollow avatar staggered back as though he'd been struck.

**"You wound me!"**

_"Huh?"_

**"I thought you'd have recognized my reiatsu by now."** Apache could feel his dissapointment, nearly palpable, even though the branded helm.** "Apparently not." **Spiked shoulders rose and fell in a half-hearted shrug. **"I suppose it was too much to hope for...**

"Just who the hell are you?" Apache was beginning to lose heart now, and quite frankly, Sun-Sun's silence was beginning to unerve. There was a strange glint in the eye of her fellow fraccion, and she didn't like it one bit. "Tell me who you are right now!" She demanded, glaring bloody red daggers at the one responsible; both for the massacre and all the silence from her otherwise stoic companions.

The mask stretched in a rictus of black amusement.

_**"Why, it's m**_e of course." A black-and-bone gauntlet gestured abruptly; despite herself, the arrancar jumped, a tiny yelp escaping her lips. But the demon merely reached for the mask, wresting away that grim visage to expose that of another. All at once his reaitsu faded; no longer like that of an espada, but rather, a human. When he spoke, all of the tenor was gone from his voice, his words, no longer ringing with hollow reaitsu.

His shihakusho had changed since they'd seen him last; the once pristine fabric now bleached white and devoid of all color, save the black sash at his waist. At his side a pair of sheathes manifested, each empty and devoid of their weapon.

"Yo." Uzumaki grinned as the last remnants of hollowfied spiritual pressure bled away from his frame. "Long time no see." The rest of his black bone armor vanished alongside his tails, resealing itself into a deadly nodachi and weapon they hadn't seen before, a short wakizashi. Apache's mouth worked wordlessly, struggling to proccess the enormity of what she'd just seen. Idly, she cast a glance for her comrades. Mila Rose looked like a fish out of water. Sun-Sun, well, Sun-Sun...

...was the first to make a move.

Before either Apache or Mila Rose could speak, before they could blink, before they could even hope to react, their fellow fraccion beat them to the punch. Sun-Sun took three swift steps forward, flung her arms_-and herself-_around the shinigami's neck and slammed her lips against his own. Naruto's eyes widened marginally, but he made absolutely no effort to refute her affections. She broke the kiss shortly thereafter, laying her head against the chest of the startled shinigami.

"Welcome back, Naruto-sama."

The blond blinked.

"Ah... Sun-Sun, was it?"

"Hai." The slender arrancar raised a sleeved hand up to stroke his whiskered cheek. "I knew it was you, from the very beginning. There was never a doubt in my mind." Before she could hope to say more_-damn, it was just getting good, too!-_someone decided they objected to this oh-so-happy reunion.

"Oi!" Apache exclaimed aghast, gawping at the abject display of affection. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Sun-Sun!"

"The one who makes the first move has the advantage." the olive-haired arrancar replied calmly.

"You bitch!" Apach felt her cheeks brighten, burning beneath her friend's complacent gaze. "I'll kill you!" Ever since he'd plucked them from the depths of Hell, she'd harbored a secret admiration for the former shinigami. Emilou Apache wasn't one to lie to herself. Though it galled her to admit, her heart_-what was left of it-_burned at the sight of him with another woman. She'd be damned if that woman was Sun-Sun! Halibel-sama was the only one she'd ever concede to! Not this two-timing slut!

"Let go of him!"

Her fellow fraccion made a point of nuzzling her cheek further into the shinigami's chest.

"Or?"

"Or I'll kill you myself!"

"Oh?" Sun-Sun lifted a sleeve in response to the taunt. "You think you can?"

"Just try me!"

"If you insist." A dull pink glow rose from the former's hand, mimicing the growing cero on Apache's horn. "Whomever wins gets to keep him." Those were the wrong words to say and Mila Rose knew it. Apache stiffened, her cero shrinking to a pinpoint of brilliance. Her mouth worked wordlessly, struggling for sound that refused to come. And all the while her face darkened, until finally...

...she exploded!

"You...**shut the hell up!"**

"Ladies, please!" Naruto thrust himself between the two before either woman could finish charging their cero. "This is all a misunderstanding!" When neither arrancar paid his words any heed, the vizard cast a helpless glance toward Mila Rose. "You're their friend, aren't you? Say something!" When the latter offered a shrug, in recompense for their childish behavior_-likely because she'd feelings of her own-_the vizard decided to take matters into his own hands. Gathering his reaitsu, he inhaled sharply and dragged a hand across his visage, manifesting his mask.

The effect was as immediate as it was pleasing.

_**"Enough, the both of you!"**_

It was as if a great hand flattened the pair.

His reiatsu practically pinned them to the sand, such was his fury. All save Mila Rose, who knew better than to rouse his wrath by arguing with her fellow fraccion. Even so she quivered at the sight of his spiritual pressure. This man's raw reiatsu rivalled that of Starrk, putting him in a class above that of Halibel's. And to think, this wasn't even the full extent of his power! In his Segunda Etapa form_-assuming he couldn't go one step higher-_she'd felt it, albeit briefly. For a moment, just moment after he'd lowered his reiryoku to their level of perception, he'd eclipsed their former, treacherous master, Aizen-sama.

As it was now, neither Apache nor Sun-Sun could hope to move. It was a perplexing sight all things considered; the shinigami standing before them, the two fraccion sprawled out beneath his feet. She daren't say it aloud though, for fear that he might bring the same pressure to bear upon her.

**"Apache,"** Naruto began, his words bubbling out from behind the eerie visage of the mask. **"I understand you're angry with-**

_"Hell yes I am!"_

**-HOWEVER!"** The vizard continued harshly, raising his spiritual pressure for silence, **"I fail to see just _why_ you'd want to kill Sun-Sun over something as simple as a kiss, wouldn't you agree?" **She _burned_ beneath his gaze as the latter brought the full weight of his glare-and reaitsu-to bear upon her. Apache wanted to scream. Because it was no longer just the reaitsu crushing her, pushing her into the sands as though she never were; it was his words, his failure to understand.

_'Stupid.'_ She thought to herself. _'Stupid stupid stupid!'_

**"Well?"** Naruto pressed, lessening his reaitsu so she might speak, might reveal the source of her grievance. **"What's got you so hot and bothered?"**

"That's!" Apache's mouth snapped shut with an audible click as she forced her gaze as far away from Naruto as his bonecrushing reaitsu would allow. "...none of your damned business." She glanced aside as he sought her gaze, refusing to gratify him with a response. She refused to admit it! It was too much! Even for her! _Especially for her!_ Apache didn't know the damnest thing when it came to feelings, but she _did_ know better than to reveal them in the prescence of others.

**"Ah, but that's where you're wrong."** Naruto ammended as he lowered himself to his haunches, stooping down so she might decipher his words, too soft for the others, for Sun-Sun to hear, eye level. **"It _is_ my damned business. Just as _each_ of you have been ever since I busted your asses out of hell."** He leaned in close, then closer still, his vermillion eyes boring into her soul, binding her in place.** "Now, are you going to tell me what I want to know, or am I going to have to explain to Halibel how one of her fraccion mysteriously lost themselves in the desert and got themselves killed?"**

Apache whimpered, such were his words. He'd do it. Of that she had no doubt. It frightened her. The only question was: which did Apache fear more? The knowledge that she actually had a crush, a self-proclaimed _crush_ on her saviour, or, in the same hand, that said saviour could easily end her life at a whim? The answer was obvious.

"..."

"Beg pardon?" the hybrid planted a hand against an ear and cocked his head to the side. This time, Apache did scream. Her teeth sank into her lip until it drew blood. Fingers burrowed into the sands, seeking something, anything, on which to vent her frustration. She screamed herself hoarse, burying her head in the earth until speech failed. When the words did emerge, they were little more than a whisper, spoken only to the sands. She wasn't expecting it, therefore, when the shinigami's blazing gaze abruptly softened.

Naruto blinked.

**"Is that all?"**

Apache froze. Her body, blazing hot, felt like it'd been plunged in ice water. He'd heard? How? Impossible! She stole a glance back at Sun-Sun noting the confusion, the abject disbelief in her fellow fraccion's face. Crap. Perhaps she hadn't been nearly as silent as she'd thought. _But still!_ How could this shinigami treat her words like they were nothing at all! How could he! Forcing her chin out the sand, Apache fixed the blond with a smoldering glare.

"Whaddya mean is that-

In one swift motion the vizard wrenched his mask up and to aside; the cermaic fixture of the fox peeling back to expose the human visage within. Before Apache could offer anything other than a small 'eep' of surprise he dropped the crushing spiritual pressure, placed his hand beneath her chin, and tilted her face upward to meet his. Their kiss was soft and swift a brief, light touch of the lips, sending fireworks dancing behind her lids. And then it was over, the mask sweeping in to shelter the small smile twisting at his lips.

**"Satisfied?"** Naruto asked, a bemused sigh whispering through the hellish facade as it reappeared. Strangely enough, Apache was. She couldn't claim to hold his heart any more than anyone else, but she _could_ claim to have kissed him and lived to tell the tale.

"I...ah...y-yes, Naruto-sama."

**"Gre**at!" The blond whisked a hand across his face, banishing the mask into particles of reishi. "Anything else?" Just beyond the corner of his eye he caught sight of Mila Rose, fidgeting, hands digging into her wrists. The caramel-skinned arrancar was making every effort not to meet his gaze. Naruto didn't bother to don his mask again. Already, he'd seen what she was thinking, what she refused to say.

"Is there a problem, Mila Rose?"

"N-Not at all!" she squirmed under his gaze.

Naruto sweatdropped. It was so obvious even _he_ could see it!

"Oh, bloody hell!"

Now it was _Mila Rose's_ turn to squeak as the hybrid swept into her; to blush, as he wrapped an arm around her hips, dipping her at the waist. She'd only an instant, to realize, recognize, and gasp, as the breath left her lungs, fleeing its den like a prey before a predator in this sudden and unexplained liplock. One of her legs curled upward in surprise, and still Naruto held her firmly as her bent her backwards, the arrancar's head skimming the sands while she struggled to find breath. Somehow she just couldn't find it within herself to be angry at him, even knowing Sun-Sun had already kissed him and after that, Apache. But he hadn't done this to _either of them._ Unbidden, a small rhyme came to her from her childhood days:

First is the worst, Second is the best...

_...third is the one with the treasure chest!_

Such were her thoughts when the shinigami finally released her leaving Mila Rose gasping for air, struggling to come to terms with what'd just happened. She could feel Apche and Sun-Sun staring, felt their combined gaze blazing into her back. She just couldn't help herself. When Naruto turned his back, Mila stuck out her tongue, secretly delighting in the shriek of rage her fellow fraccion gave.

"Oi, Naruto-sama! Do you see what she's doing!" Apache complained.

"Unfair." Sun-Sun seconded.

"Of course I saw what she did, Apache; because I have eyes in the back of my head." Naruto said this with a deadpan tone. "Now, are we quite done here? Or are the three of you in need of _further entertainment?"_ His gaze turned frosty as his hand hovered over the hilt of his zanpakuto, leaving little to the imagination.

Everyone blushed.

* * *

><p><em>(A few steps of sonido later)<em>

"She's in there." Apache pointed with a mumbled reply, gesturing to a nearby alcove. Naruto gave her a nod and followed her directions. After making all three fraccion submit to his authority they'd led him here, to the now repaired ruin of Las Noches. There was still a horrendous crack in the dome, where the battles of long ago once raged and now the artificial sun had long since been quenched, leaving the interior lit only by the moon itself.

It was very much like an old ruin, albeit a recently repaired one.

...can't believe he kissed you!" Naruto caught a snippet of conversation from Apache as he rounded the next corner. Kami, where those three still at it? Apparently so. Naruto shook his head in a dismayed sigh. You can lead a horse to water...

...not my fault!" Mila Rose was protesting as he fell out of sight.

...first come, first serve." Sun-Sun was saying as he stepped out of earshot and ignored them altogether. _Why do I get the distinct feeling this is going to come back and bite me in the ass?_ He w

Idly amused by the trio's bickering, a soft laugh echoed just beyond the room he was about to enter.

"I see you haven't changed."

"Would you have it any other way?" He replied, taking the nearest left for the door.

"No, I wouldn't."

There she was.

She stood before a large, open space in the wall_-a window?-_gazing out at the eternal night below. Her arms folded across her considerable bosom, her fingers loosely holding her stark white sleeves. For an intensive purposes she could've been a statue, frozen in time save for the occassional rise and fall of her chest.

The first thing he noticed was her attire. She'd since forgone the garment of the espada; rather, she'd taken to wearing something entirely different, much like Sosuke Aizen's former attire during his brief tenure of Las Noches. The sole difference being that _hers_ was snug in all the right places, and she wore it with authority. Even the white coat she wore served little purpose other than to convey the image of absolute sovereignty; that she was in charge now; she was the one giving orders, not taking them.

_Damn but she looked good._

He stood there, outlined in the door and admired her. It felt like only yesterday he'd held her in his arms; when in reality it had been many days more. The memories were not weak either. They were still strong, threatening to stir unbidden feelings deep within his chest. There had been no love between them that night. Only lust. An intense, fiercely primal need for one another, a desire surpassing all else.

"Thank you for coming." her words tugged him out of his reverie.

"My pleasure." Naruto returned the nod with a curt bow all his own. Despite the fact that she was an arrancar and he, a shinigami, he bore her no ill will whatsoever. Certainly not, after the _incredible _night they'd spent on Inoue's rooftop only a year before. He hadn't seen her since that fateful encounter and even so, she hadn't aged a day. Her once hopelessly messy hair had grown since they'd seen each other last, the blond locks now falling just past Hal's ears before spilling out beyond her shoulders. A small smile lifted her lips as he stepped inside, only to dissapear as he approached. There was a strange kindess in her eyes now a gentleness as though those frozen chips of jade had softened somehwat in the last year.

"I ran into a patrol on the way here." Naruto posed the question. "Friends of yours?"

"I believe I have an answer to your question." Halibel took a seat and bid the blond sit across from her. "The so-called opposition you encountered upon your arrival was not a merely a scouting party. A _Quincy_ scouting party." Aha! Now he remembered.

"Quincy?" Naruto arched an eyebrow. "Last I heard they refused to sign a treaty with us. You mean to tell me they're dead now?" It was hard to believe the Soul Society ordering their demise two centuries ago. Harder still to believe that Quincies were coming out of the woodwork all of a sudden, making forays into Hueco Muendo no less. Not so much that it wasn't unexpected, merely the fact that enough of them had survived to launch a counterattack.

When a Quincy did their whole bow-and-arrow schpeel, they didn't purify the hollow's soul. They destroyed it outright. He'd never suspected Kurosaki to actually _befriend_ one of the last remaining few Quincies, though. _Man, I've been out of the loop longer than I thought..._

"Not quite." Halibel beckoned, gesturing to the eternal desert below, the sands that encompassed her kingdom. "As you disovered yourself, several have survived." Jade eyes narrowed, bleakly regarding the desolate world devoid of clarity and order. "Recently, they have turned their attention toward Hueco Muendo." She paused, allowing the word and its weight to sink in. This is the second hunting party they've sent this week. It won't be the last." She pinnioned him with a gaze. "Your arrival here has likely given them pause, however, and after observing your power with mine own eyes I believe I understand why.

"Follow me."

The former espada turned aside, and he followed, their footsteps ringing harsh and hollow_-excuse the pun!-_across the tiled floor. She led him past the throne room, through a thicket of smaller arrancar, and down several staircases. Just as the shinigami was beginning to wonder where she was leading him the arrancar slowed. Her crisp footfalls fell silent, leaving them in a deafening silence. They stood before a wall, one that slid open at the slight raising of Halibel's reaitsu.

"This way." She instructed as the door parted before her fingertips, yielding to expose the hallway beyond, stretching unto eternity. Naruto followed, consigning himself to the dark as the corridor devoured the light and left them swimming in blackness. When the espada made no move to speak further, he took it upon himself as his right, nay, very much his _duty_ to restart the conversation.

"Is there a particular _reason_ you've paraded me around half of your palace?"

"This is not my palace." Halibel replied, her voice strained, the words echoing all around them, performing pioruettes in the dark. "It will _never_ be my palace."

"Because of Aizen?" asked her fellow blond.

"No." The espada bristled visibly. "This has nothing to do with that Shinigami, nor is it a matter of my worth. I am simply unfit to rule Hueco Muendo alone." She would speak no further of the matter and Naruto resigned himself to a new topic shortly thereafter.

"Soooo...you were saying something about the Quincy?"

"They should return within a weeks time, yes." Halibel answered matter-of-factly.

"Just a week?" Naruto frowned. "You'd think after what I did to them they'd know better than to stick their noses in your business...

Halibel frowned.

_Oh, crap. Here it comes,_ he thought to himself. "Be that as it may, their desire to claim Las Noches will eventually overide the instinct of self-preservation." For a moment she looked as though she might say more, Halibel paused. Turned. Looked him square in the eye. "There is...also...another matter, to which I would direct your attention." Naruto, frowning, allowed himself to be led inside and could only wonder whether it was truly the _shadows_ that darkened her cheeks.

"Another matter?"

"Come." She commanded, making an abrupt right, leading him through yet another doorway.

Contained within was a small room, wide in diameter, high in ceiling. Various chairs and bawbles were scattered about, each of seemingly insignifcant consequence. It was not until the lights snapped on that he recognized them for what they truly were. Were those_...toys?_ He wasn't familiar with the concept of them, having never had any of his own not to mention being locked away for several centuries. But why would an ex-espada have a room full of toys? Why indeed, the shinigami wondered as the arrancar stepped to the innermost corner, toward an opaque curtain that gave no mention to what lay beyond it.

"I'm not sure how it happened," When she began again, her words were so soft, he had to strain to hear them. "I didn't think it was even possible for my kind...

"You've lost me."

"Perhaps it would be better if I were to show you."

"Show me what?"

_"This."_

Halibel drew the curtain aside, her gloved fingertips parting the thick fabric, revealing, not the Hogyoku as he'd suspected, but something else entirely. A cradle. Naruto's jaw fell to the floor. Not because of the cradle mind you, but what was contained within. Not a sword. Not a weapon capable of breaking down barriers between shinigami hollowe, and everything else in between, but a child. _A baby._ Under any other circumstances, Naruto wouldn't have given the matter any thought. But then he noticed it. She couldn't have been more than a few months old. Already her skin was darkened, not as though she'd been born under the sun, but a lighty, creamy tan, befitting of the gentle reaitsu ebbing from her in tiny waves, small ripples and eddies befitting of such a beautiful child.

And there, staring up at him.

Her eyes.

_Blue._

"And what does this have to do with me?" his throat felt thick as the infant strained her pudgy little arms up at him, reaching.

Halibel turned aside, struggling with the words.

"This is...difficult for me to ask of you. Yet I feel as though I must. You are the only one I can turn to."

"W-Wait a second, you're not asking me to-

"Take responsibility." Her gaze turned stormy. "For her."

Naruto choked.

"You want me to do _what?"_

* * *

><p>Unbeknownst to Naruto, a storm was brewing leagues in the distance; in another entirely different realm.<p>

The leader of the Vandenreich was not pleased.

According to report made by the sole survivor, the scouts they'd sent to Hueco Muendo had been all but obliterated. Said survivor was now little more than a stain on the wall, meaning there were no survivors. How was this possible? Until recently, the hunting company had made considerable progress against the hollows, encountering scattered yet pockmarked resistance. Until recently, they'd all but succeeded in capturing the remaining arrancar created during Sosuke Aizen's reign.

But no longer.

He'd read the report on this, 'Uzumaki Naruto' character, and it genuinely disturbed him. There had been such a being in Soul Society once, centuries before. He'd been all but indestructible on the battlefield, risen swiftly to the rank of lieutenant, engaged to a prominent shinigam_-the record of her remained blank-_and destined for captaincy following the inexplicable dissappearance of several captains and lieutenants. He'd even been named one of the more prominent families despite being the only Uzumaki remaining in all of Soul Society. There was little knowledge on his life-before-death however, save that he'd resided in a place listed as Konoha.

That was where the data ended, and the myths began. Some said his bride-to-be committed sepuku, that is suicide, on the eve of their wedding. Others said there had been a kidnapping, still others, an tumultuous affair. Regardless, he'd vanished shortly thereafter, never to be seen, or heard from, again. Until now.

His recent return, and his acquisition of hollow powers, boded ill for the invasion.

He was one of _six_ so called "**Special War Powers**" that would decide the fate of the upcoming invasion. He must be eliminated. Or captured, at the very least. Hueco Muendo was a pivotal cornerstone in their invasion plan. Without it, their plan to recruit soldiers and extinguish all hollow-kind would eventually be for naught. But how to attend to an iredeemable shinigami such as this? Perhaps if they could find certain "persons" from his past, use them against him...no. That would take too much time. The Leader, wanted no such thing. He'd already wasted two thousand years after his near-death at the hands of Yamamoto.

_There would be no more waiting._

They would pursue the plan of using his past against him, but first, they would attempt a more direct approach.

"Send the hunting captain to Hueco Muendo." The Leader directed his words to a nearby subourdinate. "Kirge should be able to defeat him. And if not...

He leaned forward on his floating throne, steepling his fingers.

...I'll handle the matter myself."

**A/N: Hahahaha! I just love the Tres Bestia! They're so bloody amusing! Let's hope Kubo keeps them around for a few more chapters yet. I know I certainly will, now that Naruto's put a crink in the Vandenreich's invasion plan. And...DUN-DUN-DUN! Naruto's got a kid! A baby girl! I bet he's regretting that one night stand with Halibel now, huh? Oi, I can only imagine how Orihime, Matsumoto, and all the other girls soon to be in his harem will react to this...?**

**And will people from his earthly life surface in the afterlife?**

**Tune in next time to find out!**

**R&R! =D**


	7. Bulwark of the Damned

**A/N: Well, Kirge is finally down for the count. Or not. Stupid blighter doesn't know when to go down! Now we can finally move on with the story! I have a pretty fair of idea as to what Kubo has planned next, but I'll try not spoil anything for all of you and anyone else =D Now, this is where the story starts to veer sharply aside from the canon. That's right...**

**...NARUTO HAS HIS OWN ARC!**

_ "The right to be God.. that right.. is now Mine!"_

_~Uzumaki Naruto._

**Bulwark of the Damned**

The hammering on the door shot her into wakefulness like a handgun going off in her face.

The young woman scrambled for the dagger under her pillow, stumbling to her bare feet on the icy floor of the stone cell. She had been dreaming of her family, of her old home, and she gritted her teeth against the usual wrench of longing for everything she had lost: the home, her father, the old life. She missed them, alll. Her friends. Her family. The thunderous banging sounded again and she held the dagger behind her back as she unbolted the door and cautiously opened it a crack.

"H-Hello?"

A regal-robed figure stood outside, flanked by two heavyset men, each carrying a burning torch. Behind the three of them, brow furrowed in consternation, stood a man unlike any she'd ever seen. Choclate brown eyes leered back at her in contempt and confusion, stood a tattooed, ponytailed man, his red hair bound back in a topknot. Like the others, he too wore a black robe and hakama; the sole difference being that he lacked the white haori his superior bore. She could barely bring herself to meet that one's gaze, such was the implacability of his stare.

"Is this her, Kuchiki-taichou?" the redhead asked.

The man frowned, his slate grey eyes betraying nothing in the darkness. He flicked a wrist toward the guards, commanding.

One of them raised his torch so the light fell on the dark-haried lass, garbed in a white hakama, her pale, lavender eyes blinking under a curtain of dark hair. She looked to be about seventeen, with a face as sweet as a girl's but with the body of a young woman forged by hard work and nigh endless training. Even in her simple garb, more than one pair of eyes lingered a tad too long. Like a forest fire; she felt her cheeks blaze red with embarassment and shame.

"Hinata Hyuuga?" The haori-clad figure asked after some silence.

"Yes."

"You are to come with me." He beckoned, made as if she should follow.

Hinata lingered, torn somewhere between fight and flight. Her fingers tightened in a stranglehold on the dagger, her sole possesion since she'd been brought here. Could she trust these men? These strange figures who so glibly demanded her obedience? Rather, _should_ she trust them? In all the time she'd spent here, these strangers, never ceased to amaze her. They were called shinigami. Lauded by the people of Rukongai as heroes who upheld the peace, it was every man's-and woman's-dream to someday join their ranks. She thought the same then and she thought the same now. The people of this realm were strange indeed. _Wait._ What if they these shinigami, were leading her to her execution? Her entire body tensed at the thought. _I don't want to die,_ she thought to herself, raising the dagger ever so slightly. _No. I won't let them kill me!_

As if sensing her thoughts, first shinigami frowned, lips turning down in a minute expression of annoyance.

"Don't bother." His tattooed companion said. "There are four of us, the knife you're hiding behind your back won't do you any good." His laid a hand upon the katana at his waist for emphasis and her heart quailed. Her weapon was no good against an actual blade. "Now, put the dagger down." Hinata stiffened, then relaxed; reluctantly surrendering the rusted iron dagger to the floor. The tiny knife clanging harshly against the ground at her feet. The redhead looked as though he might say more, but a glance from his superior froze him in his tracks.

"That is quite enough, _lieutenant_ Abarai." the first man chastised, the tiniest hint of frost creeping into his words. "The Sou-taichou's orders were absolute. She is _not_ to be harmed."

"S-Sir!" The redhead stiffened in compliance. Or was it fear? Regardless, Hinata found herself at a loss for what came next.

"I apologize for the temerity of my fuku-taichou." The captain inclined his head curtly, refusing to so much as glance at the man.

She wanted to ask, wanted to know what would happen to her.

_She wanted to know._

But she did not dare. She was fearful of the very question; she acknowledged that she was terrified of the answer. She could feel herself sweating with fear under her robe, though the air was icy and the stone walls were cold and damp. She knew that she was in the most serious trouble of her young afterlife. Only yesterday four dark-hooded men had taken her from her home in the rukongai and brought her here to this prison-without a word of explanation. She hadn't done anything wrong. She'd taken a few orphans into her humble abode, true, but what crime was that?

She did not know where she was or who was holding her. She did not know what charge she might face. She did not know what the punishment might be. She did not know if she was going to be beaten, tortured, or killed. She didn't know anything. Anything at all.

"Where are you taking me?"

They paid her no attention at all, but pressed her on, down the narrow stone-flagged gallery. She could not tell if it was a prison or a tomb, it was so cold and quiet. It was just after midnight-and the place was in utter darkness and utterly still. Her guides made no noise as they walked along the gallery, down the stone steps, through a great hall and then down a little spiral staircase into a darkness that grew more and more black as the air grew more and more cold.

"I have done nothing wrong." She insisted, but her voice shook with fear.

No one answered her but the guard behind her closed up a little. At the bottom of the steps, she could just see a small arched doorway and a heavy wooden door. The leading man opened it with a key from his pocket and gestured that she should go through. When she hesitated, the guard behind her simply moved closer until the menacing bulk of his body pressed Hinata forward.

"Move." He grunted.

"I haven't," she breathed-

A hard shove thrust her through the doorway, and she gasped as she found herself flung to the very edge of her captivity and into freedom. The Maggots Nest lay behind her. Before her lay the night sky. The moonlight stung at her eyes and Hinata flinched from the brink. Was this some sort of a trick? A facade, so that she might lower her guard? Offer her freedom, then snatch it back at the very last second? She lingered. Wondering whether this was indeed the case.

"Why do you tary, Hyuuga Hinata?" The shinigami asked of her. "I thought I made it clear, I have absolutely no intention of harming you." When Kuchiki Byakua and Abarai Renji led her onward, only then did she begin to realize her folly; the latter uncaring for her sullen protestation, the former, well, he simply couldn't bring himself to be bothered with her hesitation.

At length the rural area faded into the background, giving way to the crisp corridors of the Sereitei. She'd been here once before, blindfolded. As before, her Byakugan couldn't pierce the walls such as they were; coated by a strange substance that narrowed the field of her vision. Thus, she would be forced to comply; meekly following after her captors as they led her onward. Rather, the girl she'd been three years ago_-that being those unfortunate time of her demise-_might've done just that. Instead, Hyuuga Hinata planted her feet, refusing to be led a single step further.

"Where are you taking me?" She demanded to know.

The captain's face reappeared over his shoulder, idly regarding the defiant Hyuuga behind him. He sighed.

"The Head Captain has instructed us to bring you to the shinigami representative for Karakura Town."

"But why?"

"It is is belief that the two of you were previously acquainted."

"We were?"

But Byakuya would say no more.

He began walking, and Hinata was forced to follow. Eventually, they found themselves in

He knocked. Once. Twice. Three times, refusing to be dissuaded by the silence beyond the door.

"Oi oi, I'm coming...

Hinata froze.

That voice...

_It couldn't be._

Byakuya casually strolled out and in waltzed Uzumaki Naruto. Hinata stiffenred, her mouth working wordlessly. She was looking at a dead shinobi. A dead man! How as this possible? It shouldn't be possible! And yet, he stood there, resplendent in all his glory. Clad in a black shihakusho, zanpakutou bound at his hip. His eyes flew open as he caught sight of her, reiatsu flaring over them both. Gentle, but powerful. Wary yet kind. It was impossible to not recognize him and yet, she could not bring herself to believe her eyes.

"Naruto-kun?" came her single word, plaintive, hopeful.

The shinigami gawped.

_"Hinata?"_

Her breath caught in her chest. Their eyes met, and she froze in place, the beginnings of a tear trickling down her face. "Naruto," she whispered, before rushing to his side and catching him in an embrace. Agony mulled her joy as the man gasped, and a bout of coughing erupted from his chest. She was hurting him! Horrified, the Hyuuga recoiled. Rather, she tried.

Instead, she found herself pulled into his arms.

* * *

><p><em>(Meanwhile, with the original)<em>

In the end, Naruto was forced to extend his stay in Las Noches.

_Indefinitely_.

Looking back on his decision, the reason was blatantly obvious.

Currently that reason was sound asleep in her cradle, slumbering under the watchful_-if not slightly perturbed-_eyes of Halibel's fraccion. The trio were still simmering after their most recent exchange, and might've burst out arguing again had it not been for Halibel's explict order to remain silent. In all of the three weeks he'd spent in Las Noches he'd never seen Apache freeze like that. But back to more important matters.

He had a kid!

A baby girl!

He'd refuse to believe it at first. Refused to accept it. There was no way, there was just no bloody way, that he had a kid! It was a complete, and total mind-fuck. That is, until Halibel gave her to him. Until held her, cradled her_-his daughter!-_in his own arms. The feeling was incomparable. Indescripable. No amount of words could hope to describe all he felt in that instant, that single second of pure, utter bliss. In the end, there was no point in trying to explain her. She simply was...

_...his child._

Halibel had named the child long ago. Her name was _Vida,_ that is to say, the spanish equivalent of life. A fitting name indeed, given she was the first recorded child to be born out of such an unorthodox union between a shinigami and an arrancar. As such, her reiatsu was all but indecipherable; a swirling pool of shinigami, vizard and arrancar. There was even a touch of what felt_-to him-_a great deal like the chakra of Kurama. Surely that was just his imagination, right?

Still, it had taken the former shinobi-turned shinigami many hours_-days!-_before he'd finally come to terms with the understanding. He was a father. A parent! He'd dreamed of a family of his own ever since he was young, but he'd never exepcted that dream to come to fruiton. Least of all here, in another life_-the afterlife, no less!-_during a one-night-stand with Halibel was totally unexpected. It also begged the question: could _any_ arrancar have children? Or was it the unholy union of two otherwise immortal enemies, shinigami and arrancar, that caused her to bear a child?

The news that their beloved Halibel-sama had a child, that it was possible for an arrancar to _have_ a child, soon swept through Las Noches. Granted, the news stopped most of them from humping like rabbits, but a few of them, a chosen, precious few_-Cirucci Thunderwitch amongst them-_rejoiced in the knowledge that it their forsaken existence was not quite so sullen as they'd first believed. Others, those that decried this unlikely ally, this new, immutable alliance with another shinigami, found themselves, remarkably in the minority after said shinigami revealed he was a great deal like them.

A hybrid, in every sense of the word.

Oh, most of the arrancar bowed before him easily enough once he'd donned his mask, once he'd unsealed his blade. Most knew well enough that they stood no chance against him; that any opposition to his power was utter folly. Most, but not all. Some, a few stubborn holdouts, denounced his name. They clung to the slim hope that their illustrious Aizen-sama, would somehow return; that their great leader would one day come back, make everything right, and lead them to victory over the shinigami; ushering in a golden age for all hollowkind.

Fools, the lot of them.

Loly Aivirrne and Menoly Mallia were two such arrancar.

The pair had barricaded themselves in a room once they realized Las Noches had come under new management. Ordinarily they wouldn't have posed a threat to Halibel or her plan to strengthen their forces before the coming invasion. Unfortunately, just before their attempted coup the pair had stolen something valuable._ The Hogyoku._ Naruto had no way of knowing the intrisnic little orb was once in possession of Sosuke Aizen, nor how many times it had exchanged hands following the latter's imprisonment. He'd also no idea as to Halibel had come by the limit breaker, only that she needed it now and these petulant little girls, these children, had stolen it from her.

Which led him to his current predicament.

_"Go away!"_

"Come now, girls." Naruto sighed, his fingers scraping against the door. "Do you really want me to come in there?" Oridinarly he would've blown the door down, massacred all within, and retrieved his prize. But noooo, Halibel didn't want to lose anymore arrancar than she already had. This was a situation that needed to be handled with kid gloves, without breaking any eggs. Well, maybe one or two. He left his threat hanging for the span of a ten seconds; just enough to set the room's occupants on edge.

"Y-You wouldn't dare!"

"I'm not going to ask a second time." Naruto called dragging his knuckles across the plaster, drawing sparks as his fingernails bit into the plaster. "Give me the hogyoku. **_Now." _**The double timbre of his hollow half sank into his words; his dark side wanting nothing more than to lash out and extinguish the arrancar from existence. With a whispered thought, he quelled the instinct, the edges of his eyes darkening oh so slightly. Now was not the time for violence. Not yet.

There was another silence now, longer than the last.

"How did he know-

_"Shut up, Menoly!"_

"You have a choice." Naruto continued, his words soft, soothing. "You can either give me the hogyoku and in doing so, prevent an invasion. Or you can keep the Hogyoku and doom yourselves. Your friends, your family, your entire world, everything and anything you've ever known, to complete and utter annihilation. Do you want that? Countless lives; tens of thousands of innocent souls, all on your heads; all because you didn't do the right thing? Is that what you really want?"

The tension could be cut with a knife, such was its thickness.

"Maybe we should listen to him-

_"I said shut the fuck up!"_

Naruto sighed, stepped back, and thrust his index finger forward.

"Have it your way, then.

He was done talking.

* * *

><p>The door didn't so much as crumble as it ceased to exist.<p>

Hinges buckled and metal creaked; obliterated as a sonorously low roar tore through the room. A deafening reaitsu tore into them; it felt like an invisible ocean, pressing down against their shoulders. An invisible blade, held to their throats, comprised of sheer killing intent; pure and absolute fear. Black smoke belched into the antechamber, pouring like fire from an unseen orifice. Not once did the spiritual pressure relent heavy and oh so very angry as it were, the touch of death, come to claim their very lives.

Loly and her co-conspirators gasped; unable to breathe beneath the strain of the reiryoku. Some simply ceased to be, perishing as one, dissipating from the strain of his existence even as the interim ruler of Las Noches entered the room. Of those few fortunate enough to withstand the initial burden of prescence, Loly Aivirrne trembled with fear.

"H-H-How did...how is he doing this?"

"He's stronger than Halibel-sama!" Menoly hissed, gritting her teeth as the smoke began to clear. "Did you really think a _door_ would stop him? Did you really think _we_ could stop him?"

"Shut up!" Loly shrieked! "Shut up shut up shut up _SHUT UP!_ He's just a shinigami! Even Aizen-sama's reaitsu wasn't a thing like this!"

"Does this _feel_ like a shinigami's reaitsu to you!"

Loly's glare was almost vicious enough to hide the slow flush of embarassment in her cheeks.

_**"She has a point, my dear."**_

A heavy hand clamped down on Loly's shoulder from behind. With a startled shriek she spun, dagger raised in a marginally competent grip. Sparks flew as she slashed at the offending limb, flinging herself backwards in retreat, reaitsu flaring as she stood her ground against this, the most fearsome of enemies.

"Poison!" Loly hissed, the pink aura of her _resurreccion_ enveloping her body as she twisted the zanpakutou in her grip. "Esclopen-

_"Oh, I don't think so."_

Someone squeezed her shoulder. _Hard._ Loly screamed. She cut her gaze to the side, frantically searching for her attacker. It was with a fleeting awe that she recognized the shinigami standing behind her. Naruto leered back at her, his golden and black eyes burning on the arrancar before him. The grimacing visage of his mask struck at her very soul, quelling all attempts at resistance. Menoly suddenly realized she'd closed her eyes at the extreme force of the shinigami's power, and she slowly reopened them.

Her mouth dropped open at what she saw.

Former lieutenant Uzumaki Naruto was gently holding Loly's wrist, the traitorous fraccion looking up in surprise. The hybrid maintained his unholy glare as he held his unsheathed zanpakuto in his free hand. Loly's gaze switched between Menoly and the threat of _Yarinami. _Eventually it settled upon the latter.

"Come now, ladies," Naruto said softly as he tightened his grip on Loly's arm. "We wouldn't want things to get out of hand."

"S-Screw you!" Loly hissed. "I'll never listen to a shinigami! Especially you!"

"Do I _look_ like a shinigami to you?" Naruto cocked his head to the side.

Loly spat in his face.

_"Go to hell!"_

Naruto didn't so much as bat an eyelash.

"I've been to hell." He remarked, quietly. "As it is, I have absolutely no intention of ever returning."

"W-What?" Taken aback by his words, Loly was forced to watch as an unsettling numbness crept across her shoulder. She wanted to scream, wanted to cry out, wanted to say something but the words were inexplicably stolen from her as the vizard leaned forward, gold and black eyes burning on her, right through her, searing the girl to the very depths of her soul.

"I'll give you a glimpse of hell, Loly Aivirrne_."_ His hand cracked across the arrancar's face in a brutal backhand; hurtling the petite fraccion across the room as easily as one would a small child. Menoly could only look on in abject terror as her friend struck the wall, her lone eye lolling back in her head as she slumped forward to the ground. Scarce had she done so than Naruto was there to greet her; remerging from the dull thud of that eerie high-speed movement. His fingers were a vice upon her throat, strangling the well-endowed arrancar, leaching the life from her lungs.

Naruto loomed over her, his eyes bleeding black and gold. Loly gibbered like a madwoman, kicking and striking at his chest, to no avail. The vizard gave one final squeeze and she flopped forward, gasping for breath, to little avail. Still alive, but clearly out of the fight. As if they could fight someone of this caliber!This was impossible! Insane!

"What are you going to do?" Menoly finally burst out, clearly hovering at the precipiece of hysteria. "What do you want with us?" The visored snapped his head around toward Menoly, golden eyes shining with a strange mixture of agitation and excitement. He strode forward, his fingers plucking her chin, raising it to meet his own.

"That, depends entirely on you, Menoly-chan."

He held out his hand in silent answerment-

-only for it to jerk back at the last instant, fingers closing around the unyielding steel of a vaguely familiar katana. He promptly released the weapon, wincing as the blade bit into the flesh of his palm, staining the steel a faint, garrish crimson. His attacker wore a crazed grin, excitement evident in his wild blue eyes. Before Naruto could speak he lashed out; again, aiming to skewere the shinigami on his zanpakuto. _Yarinami_ flew forth from her sheathe to meet his sword, sparks flashing between the pair.

"Good!" his attacker laughed. "It wouldn't have been any fun if that killed you!"

Only then did Uzumaki Naruto recognize the would-be arrancar assasin; because it was most certainly a he, and that was most definitely a hollow hole in his stomach. Jagged blue eyes blazed back him, hair the color of flaming azure, fluttering in the breeze birthed from their simultaneous strike. A jagged spur of bone-a jaw-curved along the side of his cheek, twisting in amusement as a dark cackle fled from his lips. Naruto grunted all but once as _Grimmjow Jaggerjack_ flung his free hand forward, blood dripping from his fingers and into a fully charged _gran rey cero,_ primed within his hand.

"Eat this!"

_Sonova-_

The blast plowed forward, dirving the vizard back for only an instant before its sonorously low roar was suddenly silenced; bifurcated beneath the tapered tip of Yarinami. With a flick of a wrist, Naruto completed the cut sending both halves of the shattered cero to detonate harmlessly behind him, shredding the walls to pieces, spiling the artifical sunlight onto his back. He stood there still as a god, sweeping the mask from his face, that demonic visage dissolving into reishi as he dismissed it from his visage. Menoly took one look at the two combatants, realized that she had no hope of surviving if she stayed here, and promptly fled. Naruto watched her go before, frowning, before an errant bala snapped him back to attention.

He shifted minutely, the rapid-fire blast sweeping through the space he'd recently vacated.

"Two can play that game." He murmurred, raising a hand.

"Not bad, shinigami!" The azure-haired arrancar crowed as he stepped out of the darkness and into the light. "You're only the second person to ever split my gran rey cero like that!"

_I'm guessing the first was Kurosaki..._

"Grimmjow Jaggerjack." Naruto observed his opponent with mild amusement. "Is there a particular _reason_ why you tried to kill me just now?" Despite the easy familiarity within his words, this was his first time meeting the sexta espada face to face. Oh, he'd read Kurosaki's report on the supposedly deceased arrancar, and he was every bit as battle crazed as they boy described. And, as ever, he was spoiling for a fight.

"Ain't it obvious?" The former espada leered, dragging his nails across his blade. "Halibel tells me you're strong. Stronger than Aizen, even." Impossibly, his grin grew even further at the narrowing of those hateful black and gold eyes. "Heh. That's a nice look you got there, shinigami. How 'bout I wipe it off your face?"

Naruto raised his zanpakuto minutely, the shaft glowing an eerie blue as it bloomed into shikai. It was a warning. Nothing more.

"You seriously expect me to fight you?" he asked.

Grimmjow's eyes wildly flitted back and forth between them. Then his lips burst open into a snarl. He grumbled and exhaled loudly as he shook his head.

"Guess I got no choice then." He shrugged loftily.

Something in the espada's eyes made Naruto's blood go cold.

"If you won't, I could always drag that kid out of her cradle."

Like an iron trap, Naruto's gaze locked onto the espada's own. The sheer intensity of his stare, the sudden ice in his expression, was enough to silence the room. Nothing moved. Nothing at all. And then he spoke, voice black as pitch, eyes cold as the coldest winter.

"You want to fight?" He all but spat, fingers clutching around the shaft of his scythe, drawing blood. "Fine. Don't blame me when you're bleeding out under the moon, _**Grimmjow Jaggerjack!" **_

Grimmjow threw his head back and laughed as though he hadn't a care in the world.

"That's it! That's the look!" His zanpakuto pulsated, glowing a darkened eerie sapphire, his fingers drawing sparks as he scraped them across the steel. "I've been waiting for someone like you! Someone to test this new power of mine on! Lemme see if you're worthy of it!" Abruptly his eyes hardened, his fingers flying flee as the scrawled across the sword in a deafening hiss. Naruto mirrored the motion his palm sliding across the sedge of his scythe, casting his body in an swirls and eddies of saffron reiatsu.

_"Grind!" _Grimmjow snarled, eyes flaring wide and slitted as his power consume dhim._ "Pantera!"_

**"Bankai!"** Naruto snapped back, irises aglow with reiryoku. _"Yarinami no Tsukiumi!"_

**A/N: Well, hope you enjoyed it! We'll see a bit more action next chapter, hell, maybe even Neliel if I have anything to say about it! Naruto vs Grimmjow? And what might this new power be that our dear Grimmy seems so proud of? And it would seem that Yamamoto has several of Naruto's once living friends under lock and key to make certain he stays loyal to Soul Society. What could possibly go wrong there? Anyway, the Vandenreich make another push to claim Hueco Muendo as of te next chappy, and we get to see Kirge! Look forward to the epic battles next chappy!**

**Anyone wanna guess/suggest what Naruto's bankai looks like? Anyone?**

**R&R! =D**


	8. Respite of those Unholy

**A/N: Well well, it certainly has been awhile, hasn't it? My muse has stubbornly refused to touch any bleach fics, but after several months, I've finally managed to kick some sense back into her. On another note, the new Bioshock game is coming out soon, so for those of you who are fans of my Bioshock story, you can expect an update for that one soon, too. But enough rambling! I know I've kept you all waiting for the Naruto vs Grimmjow bout, and I promise, this chapter won't dissapoint! And with that...**

**...on with the arc!**

_ "I'm not what people see, This is but a crown_

_A tool that gave me status, And flipped my life upside down_

_I was handed it with good reason, Even though I didn't ask_

_I was best fit to wear it, This crown that is my mask."_

_~Uzumaki Naruto._

**Respite of the Holy**

Halibel was mad. Furious, really. It was practically impossible to tell just by looking at her; her eyes were only slightly wider than normal, her impossibly turquoise irises only somewhat more visible from behind her disheveled blonde bangs. Her shoulders were squared a bit more than normal as she folded her gloved arms across her flat stomach. To anyone else in the room, she would have appeared unaffected by the sudden explosion that rocked the halls of _Las Noches._

But Naruto wasn't _anyone else. _Only three beings in this entire universe meant more to Halibel than he did. And two of them were dead now; the third, Apache, was currently inching away from her former master, her eyes darting back and forth between the two stoic figures at the door and the blonde powder-keg at her side. Naruto chuckled inwardly at the scene–he had known that he was going to be coming back to an angry set of eyes from her, but…

Destroying half of Las Noches might just be enough to get her blood boiling.

"Would one of you care to explain just how this happened?" Her voice was steady and sharp, slightly wavering from its normal deadpan. Despite himself, Naruto cringed. The torments he'd suffered in hell were pale in comparsion to the former tericiera's wrath. But it wasn't his fault! He risked a glance at the one responsible for his rampage; a sullen Grimmjow Jaggerjack, who looked just as bad as he'd felt. Not only had the two of them torn holes in each other, but their battle had laid waste to most of Las Noches itself; it would take days, if not weeks to repair the damage.

a battle had ripped a hole in the dome

"What is _he_ doing here?

"He's on our side again, Halibel," Naruto said calmly as Grimmjow stood silently next to him, his tan arms folded defiantly together before his scarred chest. He no longer needed to obliterate the cerulean-haired hollow standing beside him; he trusted that Grimmjow had learned his lesson after gauging his strength.

"Is that so?" Naruto forced himself not to flinch as his fellow blond started forward, eyes narrowing to mere slits of jade. Evidently she'd heard of Jaggerjack's prior threat to her child. "Tell me, what is to stop him from trying again?" To his credit, Grimmjow met her gaze evenly and refused to back down. Unfortunately for him, he'd underestimated the wrath of a mother bear protecting her cubs. She was furious; and that fury stirred a senseless dread in the pit of his stomach. Despite this, the arrogant espada still though he could talk his way out of this. _Thought._

"Oi, don't get your panties in a twist." He raised his shoulders in a feigned shrug as the blond arrancar drew closer still. "It's not like I was gonna hurt her or any-_oooooof!"_

His words ended in a sharp exhalation as Halibel's clenched knuckles barreled into his face; crushing cartilege, bending capillaries, catapaulting him across the room like an uncoiled spring. Stars-whole plantests-swept before his vison; the wall bursting before his back like so much dynamite, showering his shoulders in dust and debris. Propping himself up on his elbows, struggling to rise, battle the coppery taste of blood in his mouth, the former espada felt her reiatsu settle upon him like a wet blanket; heavy and smother. Too late, he realized he'd made a grave error. Halibel wasn't going to be content with just smacking him around a little. Ooh no, not at all. She wanted blood. The blond bitch was going to murder him.

"Attack,"

His dread level abruptly spiked several notches higher when he saw the tercera draw her sword, swathed now in saffron reaitsu. Oi oi! He wasn't ready yet! And still she drew closer, her blade tilting towards the floor, a tidal wave of water spilling out around her body, ready to envelop her

"Stop!"

Naruto was suddenly there between the two of them, his fingers locking around Halibel's sword arm, preventing her release. Halibel stiffened in surprise; bristled, as the flood waters fell away, soaking the floor, leaving everyone unharmed. The two blonds glared bloody red daggers at one another, each refusing to relent.

"Let. Go." she hissed.

Naruto said nothing; he only tightened his grip further.

"I told you to let go." Halibel repeated, her tan knuckles whitening around the hilt of her blade.

"He's learned his lesson, Hal." the shinigami soothed. "He won't try to hurt Vida again-

"Oi, how did ya'll know I brought the chibi?"

Each party turned, suddenly riveted by the sight of the squirming child in Apache's arms. A child that hadn't been there a few minutes ago. Grimmjow blinked in surprise. When the hell had _she_ gotten there? It must've been sometime during Halibel's preempted release. Wrapped in white, just like Halibel, her piercing azure eyes were fixated upon _him_ hinting at a frightening intelligence beyond that pudgy little face, a keeness beyond her age. The former espada fidgeted beneath her piercing gaze, uncertain of what to say, what to do; try as he might, he could not bring himself to tear his gaze away from the babe.

Any sign of contrition the shinigami might've felt all but evaporated once he saw her. The child. His child. Their child.

_Vida._

_"Papa."_ She reached for him imperiously.

"She spoke?!" Naruto guffawed, a slow grin spreading across his face. "She spoke!" He enthused, releasing Halibel and sweeping forward, snatching his progeny out of Apache's arms and swinging her into the air with a delighted cry. Halibel could've killed Grimmjow in that instant, but she refrained. Instead, she sheathed her sword, her eyes never once leaving the face of her former comrade. The gesture was explicitly clear, 'threaten my child again and even he won't be able to save you'. Grimmjow new better than to protest. Even his newfound powers paled in comparison to hers...and he'd no desire to rile a woman who could kill him without even batting an eyelash.

Slowly her gaze traveled towards Naruto

Beside him, Grimmjow bristled.

Wait a damned minute! Was this chibi actually-

"Nothing a few hundred shadow clones can't fix." Naruto grinned.

Grimmjow snickered at the memory. This pain was nothing compared to the fight he'd had with Uzumaki. If the man had used these "clones" of his, their bout would've been even better, lasted even longer.

And what a bout it had been!

_(Flashback)_

Smoke billowed out across the sands, exposing a single combatant to the cruel light of the crescent moon. Grimmjow Jaggerjack, clad in all the glory of his _ressureccion,_ stood aloft in the air, glaring defiantly down into the smoldering crater into which he'd only just smote his opponent. Although his skin lay sheathed in silver armor of his release, that same steel body bore evidence of their pitched battle; his body was wreathed within a series of cuts and gashes and he was missing the tip of his left ear. Despite this, he'd neverin his life felt more alive than he did now.

This was it! The fight he'd been dreaming of! The one he'd been waiting for! Ever since he'd first fought Kurosaki, ever since he'd gained this power, he'd been dying for a chance; for someone to test it out on! And now, that very chance lay buried beneath miles of sand, brought low by his might.

Or so it might seem. But Grimmjow knew better he knew this shinigami wouldn't go down so easily; not after the threat he'd made.

"Oi oi," he adressed the billowing cloud of smoke and sand, "I know you can do better than that, Uzumaki." His gaze shifted, scanning the sands for any sign of movement below and finding none. "Or is your _Bankai_ just a concentrated version of your shikai?" Silence reigned supreme; refusing to deign to answer him. The arrancar hissed in exasperation. He didn't have all day!

_"Get out here." _Grimmjow growled. "Unless you're afraid?"

**"As if."**

The sound of a _sonido _above him caused his head to whip back and forth aimlessly; a puppet severed from its strings. Uzumaki Naruto had appeared a few feet above Grimmjow, palm thrust forward, blood streaming in a small swirl through his palm as an already formed _gran rey cero _swirled in his free hand. His visage betrayed nothing beyond the mask but his eyes did; azure orbs narrowed in anger and aggravation. He'd less than a single second to recognize the mask before he felt the cold steel of the man's _bankai_ bite into his back. Blood spurted from the wound as its tip penetrated his hierro, droplets of blood joining their kin on the sand below them.

For the first time in their fight, Grimmjow's face lost its maddened smile.

"Well shit," he hissed, "This is unexpected. I guess your bankai isn't all talk after all."

Unlike its shikai, _Yarinami no Tsukiumi_ did not take the shape of a scythe, rather, assumed the shape of a pair of whicked looking black khopesh; their curved edges glinting in the cold light of Hueco Mundo's moon. But that was not all. Once darker than night, Naruto's shihakusho had abandoned all pretense of color; save for the gauntlet of bone wreathing his wrists it was now a stark and deadly white, wrapping the hybrid from neck to toe, leaving only his masked visage exposed to the night. Grimmjow didn't need to see his face to know that the man was smiling; one of the khopesh remained jammed into the white sash encircling his waist, thusly freeing the vizard's hand for use of the cero.

The same cero searing into his back.

**"Checkmate,"** his opponent's voice burbled from beyond the demonic shield of white bone,** "Grimmjow."**

Grimmjow flung himself forward at the last instant and spun around, determined to place some distance between himself and the murderous hybrid. For what little good it did him.

"Shi-

The vizard grinned sadistically behind the garrish mask of bone before thrusting his hand forward, the cerulean blast raining down on the arrancar with a sonorously low roar. The former sexta espada threw up his hand to block, but the attack was too well executed, too well timed. Grimmjow was sent plummeting as the azure beam propelled him to the ground.

The explosion from the _cero_s ent debris flying in a massive column of smoke and earth as several pillars dotting the desert of Las Noches surrounding the courtyard fell under the force of the blast. Naruto lowered himself to the ground as the dust began to settle, his chest rising and falling ever so slightly, betraying the broken rib he'd suffered during the espada's surprise attack. Not only had Grimmjow kept on par with him in the beginning of their bout, but he'd actually held the upper hand on numerous occasions. It felt good that he'd actually hit him this time.

The silhouette of Grimmjow Jaggerjack slowly became visible as the airborne debris dissipated.

Grimmjow heard the vizard swear under his breath. The former Espada had to chuckle slightly— it just so happened to be the _same_ word he was thinking. The dust and dirt finally settled completely, leaving an even more disheveled espada standing in the center of a large crater. He sneered up from the bottom of the chasm as he swept his hand up and through his hair, the azure mess refusing to perfect itself at the touch of his fingertips. He grin had returned.

_"Not bad, shinigami!" _he cackled up at the erstwhile vizard. "I didn't think you'd be this tough."

**"You're a** stubborn one." Naruto remarked, peeling his mask back with his free hand, exposing the murderous scowl lurking behind the facade. "I thought that one would've killed you."

Gimmjow bared his fangs in a defiant laugh as he rose to greet the subtle challenge.

"I'd like to see you try!"

The blue-eyed vizard suddenly dropped down towards the floor, Grimmjow's claws zipping over the tip of his mask as he fell. He slammed into the ground and snatched at nothing. Grimmjow plummeted head-first towards him, the tip of his elbow blade jutting out at his opponent's forehead. Naruto threw his left hand upward; the length of his fingers opening to disperse their contents, hurling a geyser of gritty sand into the arrancar's face. Grimmjow balked as he found himself blinded; his attack aborted prematurely as he struggled to scrape the sand out of his eyes.

_Damnit!_

Grimmjow didn't have time to block the strike as Naruto suddenly reappeared in front of him, his _Yarinami _screaming downwards against Grimmjow's chest. But he did have time to attack. His claws slashed out wildly, tearing at the hybrid's chest in the same instant the scythe found flesh; tearing open the man's vest and drawing first blood. Then it was his turn.

Grimmjow flew backwards as blood spilled from his fresh wound, the crimson liquid falling thickly upon the floor in front of him. He slid to a stop and struggled for breath as he looked at Naruto. The former _fuku-taichou _stood defiantly, his chest rising and falling with a slow, calculated breath of a man with murder on his mind. Grimmjow snapped his arm downwards, the slivers of Naruto's shihakusho tearing themselves halves as it fell from his claws onto the ground.

"You're good." Grimmjow remarked, a snide smile drawing his lips back from his fangs. "Better than I thought ya'd be. But play time's over, shinigami." He took great pleasure in what came next; in showcasing his new found power to Uzumaki Naruto, his mosted hated opponent.

Blue/black flames burst from his body, wriggling their way across his steel-covered skin, wreathing him in a sea of azure flame. Grimmjow reveled in the shinigami's shocked expression, _reveled_ as his irises brightened to gold, as his sclera faded to black." Time to end this!" The steel skin that served as his second skin peeled back from his upper torso, exposing his bare chest to the light of the moon. But not his arms; they darkened with dense black fur whilst his legs lost their luster and brightened to an arrogang azure, his already deadly claws sharpening beneath the weight of a reaitsu so fierce it felt like death itself.

A tuft of azure hair erupted from his neck, what remained of his crown thinned into two slim lines, alighting on either side of his ears like a pair of deadly thorns. His newfound tail twitched once in anticipation, the blue tuft flicking forward as he tested its length. A blue/black cero pulsed in his hand, bellowing forward like a bullet.

_"Cero Oscuras!"_

**"Well...shit."** Naruto lifed his mask up with a hand, the kitsune's likeness parting to reveal his scowling visage beneath. He raised a hand, revealing the spiraling sphere, he'd been holding.

"_Rasenshuriken!" _Naruto yelled as he swung his arm forward, launching the opaque shuriken like...well, a shuriken, his attack splitting the arrancar' _cero _into halves. Grimmjow quickly dodged out of the way, the blast obliterating the tip of his tail as it passed by. The Arrancar looked down at the burnt stub and growled.

Naruto was already in front of him, the long black _khopesh _in his hands stabbing forward at Grimmjow's head. The Espada grabbed at the attack, one fist gripping the blade and the other Naruto's forearm. Naruto cried out in surprise, then agony as Grimmjow squeezed down mightily, his palm mercilessly crushing the Shinigami's limb.

"What's wrong, shinigami?" he sneered, reveling in the pained expression twisting at the man's face behind the mask. "I thought you were going to kill me?" Naruto refused to answer; his eyes narrowing the merest of millimeters, regarding him with thinly veiled contempt.

"Those eyes," the espada hissed, "You're looking down on me...aren't you?!"

Grimmjow flung Naruto back down, the white-clad warrior's body slamming into the sands below, ricocheting of debris. Naruto coughed up a thick wad of blood as he bounced off a nearby pillar, his eyes squeezing shut in agony before he fell back down to the sands. He struggled to stand, the pain of a broken rib shooting throughout his body while he forced himself back to his feet. Hairline fractures spread across his mask, the bones unable to withstand the pressure being demanded of them.

"Ha!"

Grimmjow let out a victorious laugh and leapt into the sky. He quickly dropped down, fingers turning taut for the killing blow. He plowed through the dust and debris, crashing feet-first into the pavement below, his arm now through Naruto's chest, pinning him. With a final grunt, Grimmjow shoved his claw's deeper into the sands below Naruto's torso.

"Sorry, shinigami," Grimmjow said, snickering as he tugged his fist out of the concrete. "Looks like there's a new king in town—"

His handhad no blood on it.

The last of the smoke cleared, revealing a Hollow-hole in Naruto's chest. Grimmjow's arm was sticking out from the black center of it. Naruto's mask finished forming and, his blue eyes cold as diamond, as he looked up at his enemy, he pulled it over his face.

A massive _cero _erupted from the mask's mouth, Grimmjow's body tumbling upwards as he was pushed away by the beam of energy. His pride shattered like china, but his body endured the blast. He twisted up and out of the surge of the _cero, _his charred chest heaving as he struggled for breath. He looked down at Naruto, still on the sands far below. Grimmjow snarled in disbelief as the crescent moon glinted off his back, revealing the true extent.

"You've been holding back." he accused.

**"A bit."** Naruto confessed, rolling his shoulders. **"I wasn't sure if I needed to use this mask...against someone like you."**

**"FUCK YOU!"**

He flew down, claws cutting through the air as he pushed closer to his enemy. He cackled as he sank, the moonlight glinting off the tips of his claws, the white of the perpetual night leering down on his prey as he found his mark and dug his claws deep.

His hand stopped, taking his laughter with it. Naruto was holding the length of his wrist with a bare hand. He looked over the length of the arm at Grimmjow, sapphire orbs now scarlet above the twin saffron lines below his sockets, glowing beside the pair of horns that curved out from the sides of the mask.

**"Sorry, Grimmjow."**

Naruto's zanpakuto arced upwards, sundering Grimmjow's _hierro_ as if it were made of tissue paper, tearing open a trench in his torso. The slender arrancar choked in surprise, his knees buckling agains the sudden and unexpected strikes. Grimmjow hacked up a dark wad of blood, staining his lips a deep red as it dribbled from the corners of his mouth, to the puddle beneath his head. A ray of white moonlight knifed down from over a nearby pillar, streaking across his eyes.

"Shit...

And thus, their battle ended.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Well, hope you enjoyed it! Grimmjow has Segunda Etapa! No wonder he thought he could win! For an exact image of it, look up The Primal Fear by Arrancar Fighter on deviantart! Also, the last scene with Hinata last chappy is not what it seems. Is it _really_ Hinata? Or, is it merely a memory-modded gigai that LOOKS like her to ensure Naruto's loyalty? Cant put anything past Mayuri these days...now can we?**

**Hope you enjoyed the design for Naruto's bankai! I spent a good long while thinking of it!**

**So...in the immortal words of Atlas...**

**...Review...would you kindly?**

**Hope you enjoyed it!**

**R&R! =D**


	9. Don't Fear the Reaper

**A/N: I'M BACK!** I suffered a massive writer's block when it came to this chapter, and it took rereading the Bleach Manga in ONE NIGHT to get my mind rebooted again.**** Not fun! Not fun at alll! UUUUUGH! I'm woking almost daily and I feel like crap, as to that effect. But nevertheless, despite this pesky little hiccup-I wanted to get word out any way I could, and since for some strange reason the site is being buggy, I wasnt able to work on this anywhere near as much as I would've liked. But thanks for sticking with this story!****

**I love you guys so much! *Cries***

**Now, without further adeu...**

**...here we are!**

_"We have nothing to fear but fear itself. For I am fear. Terror incarnate..."_

_~?_

**Don't Fear the Reaper**

_Reiatsu._

Naruto bathed in it. Breathed it. Relished in it. It was him-and he it. He was a being of pure energy, his body shimmering sapphire and saffron. He stood at the crossroads between mortality and godhood, unseeing eyes absorbing a world's weight of information as one of his many clones dispelled and gifted him with still more information on the enemy. And he'd yet to lose a man.

It was the perfect plan.

The hybrid _cackled _and the spiritual pressure roared with him, raw reiryoku rising from every corner of his soul to lay claim to his domain. The hollow realm trembled around him, quaking beneath the creaking weight of his almight power, the very amalgamation of a hybrid. It was the power of a shinobi-turned-shinigami-turned-sinner-turned vizard reborn, now bristling outwards from his body, reaching out to remind the world that he was here, that he was not dead, that he was _not_ going away.

And all the world trembled.

Much time had passed since his last bought with Grimmjow; seventeen months, to be exact. Just over four hundred days. Naruto had not been idle during that time, he had stood by patiently over the year and watched as events unfolded, all the while readying himself-his army-for the confllict that was certain to come. Stood by while Kurosaki Ichigo gained a Fullbring and then his powers, amused himself as Soul Society scrambled to address the rising Quincy threat, standing by silent, as everything he'd predicted came to pass. He had been busy, staying on the sidelines, repulsing wave after wave of enemy incursions into Hueco Muendo.

Indeed, he had witnessed the tactics of his enemy, and he had learned from them. Made them his own. It was fascinating really, that this Yhwach character could split his soul into so many fragments, thereby endowing his soldiers with such unique abilities, gits no one should be capable of possessing. And Naruto had learned well. It had been a novel experience doing the same with his own clones, creating living, breathing entitites he knew were incapable of being dispelled by anything short of outright death.

The proccess of making these clones, shards of his own self...had not been pleasant. Yet it was an overwhelming success. The enemy was none the wiser.

Dozens upon dozens of those dopplegangers had been seeded throughout Soul Society, disgusied as ordinary shingami. The proccess weakened him somewhat, yes, but the tradeoff was well worth it. They'd done what he'd made them fore, not only seeding the Seireitei in Hiraishin seals, but paving the way for his own entrance No one knew of it, this grand plan of his, not the invading enemy or even his own allies. Indeeds, not even old man Yamamoto was aware of the lengths he'd gone to ensure victory in the coming war. It wasn't that he didn't trust the old-timer, he just wanted to hold onto his freedom for as long as possible before the captain of the Gotei Thirteen tried to drag him back into service again. He figured if he did something grand enough, they'd leave him alone for good this time.

And what better way than to win a war?

"You look like you're enoying yourself."

"Of course I am. Its not ever day I get away with murder, ya know." Naruto didn't deign to turn as a pair of slim arms wrapped around his waist from behind, their warmth seeping through his white hakama. Halibel rarely showed open affection these days, but on the off chance when she did he knew better than to turn her away. They made for a strange pair, and even stranger parents, tending to their daughter by day -rather difficult considering the moon never set here- and running Hueco Mundo by night. But she wouldn't have it any other way he knew. Neither would he.

"Do you feel that?" she murmurred into his back.

Naruto nodded and reached around to caress her cheek in hand. "The invasion's started." He spoke both of another incursion into Hueco Muendo as well as the attack on Soul Society; because he could suddenly feel the reaitsu of one Kurosaki Ichigo permeating his domain. He had half a mind to reprimand the boy for falling into that trap really. Perhaps he should do that. The boy was far too reckless for his own good. Charging into an enemy ambush was exactly the sort of of thing he expected from one so young.

But he found himself...distracted, as he glanced once more upon his beautiful wife.

Halibel was one of the select few he trusted with his life; he always had, ever since their first romantic tryst so long ago. Having a child with her-despite the fact that it should've been impossible-only served as another reminder of how blessed he'd been since escaping from Hell. She looked better since carving her mask away, the garrish jaw that often hid her face in her sealed state having been reduced to little more than a series of thin lines against her cheek. They rather reminded him of his own whiskers, really.

"Someone out there is hurting my sisters, beloved." Halibel smiled then and in some unknowable way that was more intimidating than the darkest glare or deepest growl. "Kill it."

"Yes, dear."

Yarinami hummed wrathfully in her sheathe, purring as his fingers curled around her hilt and drew her free. Long had she been sheathed, her edge left unbloodied against their enemies. But no longer. Today she would bathe in blood by the gallon; today he would have his fill of destruction. Yhwach and his little invasion both began and ended today.

_He was going to enjoy every second of it._

"Grimmjow?" he called, his voice ringing out into the empty desert. "Nel-chan?"

A dull buzz of sonido answered him, the two espada responding to his summons with surprising speed. The former's sword was already drawn and glinting in the moonlight, his blue eyes brimming with the same savage intent. The latter remained reserved, her hazel eyes regarding him quietly as her emerald green hair swayed softly in the breeze. Momentarily, the blonde's mind dipped back into an old memory. He'd been surprised to encounter her at all in the wastes, but now he was glad he haid. It had been child's play to restore the rent in her mask, even less to restore her spiritual power. He'd gained another ally that day-one just as loyal as his beloved Halibel, and thrice as strong.

"Look after Las Noches while I'm gone." he instructed them. "You know the drill; any Quincy cross the border-

"Dead." the bluette grinned.

"As you will it, Naruto-sama."

"Quite." Naruto nodded, flicking his zanpakuto into its shikai state. He held it aloft for a moment, admiring his reflection in the weapon's pristine edge. Then he smiled.

"And the Lord said; let there be war."

A flicker of Hiraishin and he was gone.

* * *

><p>"It took you too long...to scream captain."<p>

Kirge Opie frowned down at the prone form of Loly, prepared to deal the final blow with his blade and end her feeble little life forevermore. Those last three had been troublesome to say the least, but they were nothing compared to the might "His Majesty" had endowed him with. Indeed, it seemed as though these arrancar were unusually weak; the titans that had repelled their last three incursions were nowhere to be seen. While the lack of their prescence worried him, he certainly wasn't going to ignore this opportunity. Now was the time to st

_"Then why don't you start screaming?"_

Kirge Opie stopped suddenly as his shoulder seemed to open itself, a fountain of blood spraying into the air. The man groaned and grabbed at his arm as he fell to his knees in pain, feigning weakness.

_Then he slashed._

Taken aback by the sudden movement, his ambusher suddenly found himself with a wound of his own, his throat opening like so much butter beneath the blade of reishi.

Loly sprang forward, barely blocking the weapon as it swung down at her master's fallen body. Kirge smirked and swatted the petite arrancar aside within an instant, the razor-sharp edge of the blade opening a crimson trench across Loly's throat. The pale-skinned girl before him grasped at her neck in surprise as she staggered backwards, blood leaking from between her fingers.

"Gah!"

Kirge forced himself not to smile as Loly stumbled onto the ground. He walked over to Aizen's former aide, his blade once more reflecting in the moonlight. He looked down at the grimacing face of Loly Aivirrne, into the face of an arrancar who'd done nothing but protect her lord. Such fragile things, these hollows.

"Die." was all the pity he could muster as he plunged his sword into Loly's stomach. The arrancar fell backwards, releasing the handle of her sword, leaving it embedded in the flesh of her otherwordly enemy. A thin pool of blood spread outward from her failing form, her gore-soaked hands feebly struggling to staunch the twin wounds even as she bled out.

Kirge stared up at the night sky, smiling happily as his eyes closed. Justice had been done.

"Are all your subourdinates this weak?" he asked, cleaning his blade of blood. The cooling body beneath him gave no response, its shoulders sagging.

"This is strange." Kirge remarked, re-adjusting his spectacles. "I thought you'd be stronger than that. He made as if to move away. A hand locked around his wrist. Kirge gave a small sound of offense, only lightly perturbed to realize that the shinigami had enough strength to restrain him. The Hunting Cpatain raised the opposite heel, prepared drive his boot into face of his shinigami opponent. It was only then that he detected the last remnant of the kido's incantation.

**"!"**

"_Hadou number one," _Naruto rasped out with a pleasant smile, grinning through blood-bleached teeth._ "Shou."_

Kirge's eyes flew wide in surprise when the spell did nothing but thrust his body away from his victim. It was enough. Naruto bolted upright fist connecting solidly with the jaw of his one-time tormentor. Before the quincy could recover, before he could unsheathe his sword from its scabbard, the blond drove a knee into the man's stomach. The effect was an immediate one; the hunting captain staggered backward bent double, his breath momentarily driven from his lungs. Just for a moment.

More than enough.

_"Bakudo_ number twenty one," Kneeling like a pentinent priest, the shinigami spread his palms, flat against the earth. _"Sekienton!"_

Kirge Opie was not by any means familiar with the vast repretoire of shinigami kido; he tensed against a blow that never came. Imagine his surprise when a great geyser of red smoke burst before his vision, clouding his senses and blinding him to all else. He was still struggling to recover from the first attack; he didn't even consider that there might not be a second.

As the quincy stood, Naruto softly spoke another incantation, finishing it as he stood.

"_Bakudo _number sixty-two," his voice rang out calmly through the smoke, "_Hyapporankan!"_

Naruto had already formed the long staff of blue light by the time Kirge recovered; by the time he'd turned and looked up at him, he'd thrown the spell, the rod breaking into dozens of smaller spears; by the time the Quincy raised his hands to block, he'd been struck and thrown off the roof into a nearby pillar. Naruto quickly used _shunpo _to catch up to him. He softly landed on a thick bough and looked down at his opponent who was pinned to the pillar across from him. He looked slightly agitated, but turned his face to the vizard and smiled calmly.

"Kido?" He scoffed at the violet rods, even as he tore his sword arm free from the prism. "Is this all you have?"

_"Bakudo _number sixty-three," Naruto called out as he flashed into sight behind him, his amber eyes regarding Kirge coldly. _"Sajo Sabaku._"

The Quincy's eyes flew open in shock as the golden length of chain materialized from nothingness and surrounded his body, the thick _kido _links tightening around his torso like a python constricting a large rat. Kirge grimaced. Flexed his arms, began to wriggle within the chains, his _reiatsu _swelling and causing the spell to slowly disintegrate. However even as the chains begin to break, a second shadow fell upon him as Naruto raised his hand, fingers pointing outward.

"_Carriage of thunder, bridge of a spinning wheel..._

**"!"**

_...With light, divide this into six!_"

_"Bakudo_ number sixty-one." As one, the golden spurs of light surged forth from his fingertips.**_ "Rikujōkōrō."_ **As one, they slammed into the Quincy's midsection, further immobilizing him. A cold bead of sweat stole its way down Kirge's face, curving along the length of his jaw before striking the sands. _What devilry is this?_ While he could easily have broken free from any one of the individual spells and released his _Letzt Stil, _effectivly sealing the fight in his favor, the combined series of spells required time to break. Time not afforded him as his shinigami opponent chanted anew. This troubled Kirge. Why was the shinigami firing off so many different kidou, _bakudou_ no less, one after the other? He had yet to release his sword. He refused to don his mask. Something was amiss. Something was wrong here. Terribly, horribly wrong.

But what?

What was he missing?

"Walls of iron sand, a priestly pagoda, glowing ironclad fireflies." Naruto intoned harshly, trails of amber reishi worming their way between his clenched fists. "Standing upright and perpetually silent to the end. Come to me now! Fall upon me now! Descend upon the broken tower, and turn my foe unto dust!" Kirge Opie could only curse his own impotence as he watched five pillars of forged iron fall do just that; crashing down upon his arms and legs and chest with enough force to drive him into the soil with renewed fervor.

_"__Bakudō_ number seventy-five!" Naruto sneered, slowly raising his fists from the earth. _"Gochūtekkan!"_

Kirge felt the weight on his shoulders increase tenfold, nearly wrenching his shoulder from its socket as his body struggled beneath the renewed burden. For the most part his captor said nothing; refusing even to gloat as he approached his fallen enemy.

"You should be honored, quincy." Naruto said coolly, his sea-colored eyes looking down at his exposed face as he donned a small frown. "I never imagined I'd need this many _bakuduo_ just to pin you down." Despite the overwhelming supeirority of his opponent, Kirge felt nothing but confidence. He just needed time to free himself. And once he did...

"You think this is enough to hold me?"

"No, I don't." Naruto remarked quietly, his exhaustion vanishing as he suddenly slammed his zanpakuto into the debris at his feet, _Yarinami's _edge sticking into the ground while pointing her handle towards the eternal night of Hueco Muendo. Naruto looked at Kirge with steeled eyes as he crossed the index and middle finger of both hands, lifting them slowly to his face and touching the tips of them together in front of his nose.

"_Bakudo _number ninety-nine, part one:" he said calmly as the Quincy in front of him stopped struggling against his bindings, mismatched eyes widening at the spell that was being summoned. "_Kin."_

The twin tethers of black sprung forward at him out of nowhere, slithering along the concrete like a pair of vipers approaching their unassuming prey. They quickly slipped up his legs, wrapping themselves around his thighs as they continued their ascent. When the two lines reached his neck, they wrapped around his throat before crisscrossing and darting forward as a set of iron pegs slammed into them. Kirge was quickly yanked downwards, the sudden pull thrusting his face into the sand, shattering his glasses.

Naruto calmly plucked _Yarinami _out from the sand and strolled over to his pinned opponent, placing the tapered tip of the zanpakuto under his chin. He lifted up gently against Kirge's face, the razor-sharp tip opening a small slice in the pale skin of his throat.

"I suppose I should thank you, quincy." he said flippantly, his face still serious despite the ever-friendly tone of his voice. "I've been wanting to test this spell out for quite some time now."

"All this time...**!**"

"Everything until just now was preparation," The hybrid clarified, fingers reaching up to his forehead. "For this instant." He smirked. "Do you fear the reaper, little man? You should. Because I'm going to cut you. Mince you. I'm going to destroy you so _utterly_ that there won't be so much as a single scrap of your soul left for your "Majesty" to recover. Don't you think that's quaint? The great Ywhach can't keep his strength without war, cannot thrive without conflict. And if there be peace, his body will wither and die. So I'm going to end it all; everyone and everything, before he has the chance to grow strong off this conflict. Starting with you. You will be devoured. Made a part of me. And I will only grow stronger from it.

"Curse you, shinigami!"

Naruto said nothing more to that effect as he lifted his left hand up to the side of his face. With a swift movement, his mask grew as he waved his palm over it, the white bone moving like milk as it molded itself into a ghastly skull. Amber and black eyes burned on on the prone quincy ahead of him as he thrust a finger into the air and began an ungodly chant.

_"Seeping crest of turbidity!" _Black light swelled around the lone digit, usurping his light blue aura in favor, of a deep, seeping violet._ "Arrogant vessel of lunacy!" _Gathered there, in the palm of his hand, it began to grow._ "Boil forth and deny! Grow numb and flicker!" _The light in his hands did the exact opposite, expanding into a small, jagged cube._ "Disrupt sleep! Crawling queen of iron! Eternally self-destructing doll of mud! Unite! Repulse! Fill with soil and know your own powerlessness!"_

Eyes glazing over with the sheer might of what he was about to summon, Naruto cast his hand, and the kidou with it, at the Quincy. Kirge inexplicably stiffened, his mind nigh but frozen with fear as the four walls rose up around him, towering over his head. Still higher they swept, black buttresses threatening to blot out the eternal moonlight itself.

"This is...**!**"

_"Hadou_ number ninety-one." Naruto hissed out the last of the incantation, his words black with fury. _"Kurohitsugi."_

Naruto didn't even watch as the black sarcophagus rose from the ground to take Kirge Opie's life. He opened his mouth and inhaled forcefully, drinking deep of the Quincy's soul even as it struggled to flee from his body and escape to Yhwach. The reverse happened, the screaming soldier's soul was sucked down into that open maw, his power flooding the former sinner and burgeoning his already massive well of spiritual pressure. He'd not linger to tend the wounded, a simple blink and a pair of solid clones were sent to tend to Sun-Sun, Apache, Mila Rose, and all those who had suffered injuries.

Then, once again, he was gone in a flicker of Hiraishin.

* * *

><p>If it had been hot earlier this morning, it was absolutely hellish now by midafternoon.<p>

Kuchiki Byakuya found it ironic that he would reflect on the humidity before his death. His body bled from dozens of wounds, his will was faltering, all his attempts to defeat the eerie adversary before him were proving to be utterly fruitless. All for naught. Despite a valiant effort to resist on his part he could feel the fear creeping up on him, staining his every thought, hindering his every movement. Strikes that had once been precise and powerful now growing weak and erratic as his adversary battered him from all sides. Even now he could feel the slicing wave tearing at his body, threatening to bloody him into oblivion.

_Damn._

It was maddening; the man had stolen his bankai the moment he'd activated it, leaving him all but powerless. All the while his eerie adversary continued to batter at him, tearing into his flesh with power that wasn't his with the power of-

**_"Bankai."_**

A V-shaped swell of water suddenly erupted between him and the onrushing attack, the tidal wave crashing down and drowning the petals; intercepting the thousands of tiny blades as though they were mere blossoms of the Sakura tree, drowning the smaller attack out in a flood of hardened moisture.

"Well, well!" a jovial voice called. "Looks like I'm right on time."

Naruto landed in front of him, his hardened sandals clicking gently against the ruined veranda that the Kuchiki had just stood upon. His once pristine white uniform was slightly tattered, and his cowl all but gone. A trickle of blood trailed from his temple and down to his cheek, the crimson liquid curving along his well-defined jaw-line. His left fore-arm was bleeding as well, thick, droplets of blood seeping from the tiny cuts that he'd accidentally garnered while guarding himself and the captain against his stolen _bankai._

"Uzumaki Naruto?" Byakuya balked at the sight of the recluse.

"Yo." the blonde raised a hand, grinning merrily. "Long time no see, Byakuya-boy. You look like shit."

The Kuchiki made a squelching sound at the sound of his old nickname. Schooling his face into a mask of impassivity, he forced himself to stand in spite of his pain, his spine straightening as he addressed the exile. It would not to show disrespect to the man who'd just saved his life. Another few seconds and he might not be standing at all.

"Why are you here?"

"Other than saving your ass?" he said it so nonchalantly; the nobleman had difficulty believing he was even remotely serious in his actions. "I'm really only here for one reason." Then he smiled. There was something in that grin that sent shivers shooting down Byakuya's spine, cold tethers of ice touching at the base of his brain.

_"To end this war."_

Byakuya opened his mouth to reply-

Wordlessly did a wave of blades surge forward, the cascading wall of pink rushing towards the pair of shinigami with a deadly force. Soon their forms were completely eclipsed by the mass of blades, unable to be seen in the storm of pink petals that had consumed their bodies. Or so one might think.

_"Soren Sokatsui!"_

Two voices barked and a wall of blue fire obliterated the swarm of traitorous katana in a sea of sapphire. Naruto was the first to emerge from the shattered storm, his body still shimmering with reaitsu. Alas, Byakuya was not so fortunate. Using such a high-level spell without incantation, even with the aid of a fellow shinigami, appeared to have taxed his remaining reserves beyond measure. A flick of the blonde's wrist summoned a wall of water to wisk him and the exhausted Kuchiki away, retreating to a safe distance in the face of the enemy threat.

"My apologies." the younger man rasped. "It appears my injuries have caught up to me."

"Well, shit." Naruto muttered, taking in his disheveled state. "I didn't know you were that beat up."

"My deepest apologies, but I would prefer it if you didn't ignore me." Nodt drawled from behind them.

Naruto turned, regarding the Quincy with a noticeable frown. A single flash-step put him squarely between the Quincy and his prey.

"You're fight is with me, now." a mantle of oppressive reaitsu settled over their shoulders, dark and angry.

"So it would seem!"

With a wave of the medallion Senbonzakura Kageyoshi roiled forward, only to be forestalled against another buffer of marine wrath. Naruto wasn't smiling. Not anymore.

"I must admit," He seemed to noticeably inhale before speaking further, "Your skills are impressive. Quite sharp, really. You're able to wield a bankai that isn't yours with almost perfect mastery despite never having fought a shinigami in all your life. I _would_ be impressed, if you weren't so hellbent on killing my friends." Water swirled around him, curling aroung the khopesh clutched in his hands. "I hope you're happy now, you've gone and got me really pissed."

Nodt blinked in surprise.

"Your _bankai_," he murmurred, a faint note of surprising trickling through his snakelike voice. "I can't steal it."

"Yeah, she's a naughty one." he sighed , scratching at the back of his head with a hand. "Even I can't control her sometimes. She's also pissed to all hell right now." Just like that the jsester was gone, replaced by the veteran who'd slain thousands of hollows in his prime and once competed with the Captain Commander himself. Blue eyes glittered angrily at him from across the yeard, more akin to winter fields than the sapphire skies for which they were known.

"I'm going to give you once chance," he warned. "Lay down your weapon and surrender."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, shinigami."

"Then you die like the rest!"

Naruto barked out a laugh and vanished in a fresh flash of _shunpo, _Nodt quickly recovering and following suit with his _hirenkyaku. _He reappeared first scanned his surroundings, contemplating the sudden lack of shinigami and finding only open air.

"A most cowardly retreat, to be sure." he spoke to the rubble. "It seems you're all talk after all-"

_**"Is that so?"**_

Now it was _Nod's _turn to groan as the scythe bit into his shoulder. Naruto was suddenly past him, twirling his weapon as though it were but a simple stick in his hand, utterly unfazed. Then his adversary surprised him by doing the inexplicably; he laughed. It was a soft, whispery sound, and it instantly set the blond on edge.

"Are you afraid, shinigami?"

"The hell I am, thorn boy." came the snarky reply. "You should be afraid of what I'm about to do to you!"

"Fear can be overcome." Nodt intonted. "This is what experienced fighters tend to believe. 'Fear with a reason' is gentle. You can stop it with experience and with your willpower. If you know the reason you can wipe it away by eliminating the source. But real fear doesn't have a reason. Because it's not a feeling, it's instinct. Real fear has no reason and no limit. It's like a horde of bugs crawling up your body. We cannot escape it nor can we evade our instinct."

_"Instinct?"_

Naruto glanced sidelong at his enemy. Instinct. Years of training when he was alive, decades of honing his skills to a knife's edge. In death he had taken his skills even further, learned to react at the drop of a hat when he finally became a shinigami. And in his long tenure as a sinner, running and dodging his captors day in and day out...instinct. His very life was built on that singular word, his existence paved upon years of action and reaction, strike and counterstrike. And this man...

"You know nothing of instinct."

Äs Nödt staggered backward, a fountain of blood leaking from his lips as Yarinami sank to the hilt in his stomach. He blinked and the pain was gone, his body unharmed and whole. What was that, he wondered? Was it a vision of some sort? An illusion, meant to deceive his senses? If so then he'd best be wary_-yike!_

"Water Celebration!"

Brambles bristling, he swept the highly focused blast aside as it swooped down from him, its watery edge shaving into his thigh before retreating. Naruto stood there, unfazed, his body bristling with untold wrath, arm still extended from his last attack. Despite himself and all the power he'd gained from the shinigami he felt...no. Was this _fear_ he felt? No. No. No! No, that shouldn't be possible! _He _was fear! He did not feel it! Did not experience it as lesser creatures did! So how-HOW-could this man inspire such ardent terror in him?!

"How?" He sputtered. "How can this be? How can you not be afraid of me? What are you?!"

"Oh, I am afraid." Naruto raised a trembling hand. "Terrified, really." With that quivering hand, he reached up to his face, fingers clenching into a claw. "But not of you." Instead of the mask manifesting, golden armour slicked its way across his frame, the shining skulls manifesting upon his head and shoulders. "I'm afraid of losing. Losing everyone, everything I love. Compared to that...compared to you," Nodt frowned behind his half mask as a wave of scarlet reiryoku poured outward from the blond, exuding the most unholy of reaitsu. A crimson fox snarled into existence over his head, its fangs bared in a ghastly cackle.

**_...is nothing!"_ **Naruto growled, his voice becoming warped and distant, unholy in its temerity._** "Now,"**_ he growled, _**"Allow me to introduce myself properly! Uzumaki Naruto, former shinigami. Unadulterated badass. Ally to good. Nightmare to you. I am not a God, nor a Demon...I AM THE REAPER!"**_

The power was not that of a shinigami, he realized, watching as blond hair stained itself white, tan skin become sickly and pallid. Nor was it that of an arrancar. It was something else entirely. It was...

_Death._

As Nodt was staring at a reaper in the literal sense of the word. Not a paltry being like a shinigami, but the actual force behind shinigami, but Death itself. Naruto's very prescence signified an existence he couldn't hope to comprehend in this lifetime. He could no longer feel his adversary's reaitsu; it was as if he'd transcended Life and Death itself, ascended to different plane of existence. Dark, magenta eyes judged him and found him wanting. Unworthy. The being that he'd become stood above Nodt, looming over him bathed in a cyclone of power that all but threatened to steal the very breath from his lungs.

Naruto grinned and all the souls of hell, all their power, grinned alongside him.

_**"Now, little man, let me show you true fear."**_

_Fear. Fear Terror pain dying stop hurts stop pain agony breaking dying stop can't breathe stop stop stopstopstopstopstopstopSTOP-_

It was suddenly everywhere, flooding his every pore, encompassing his body as he arching backwards gagging. Because his arms were suddenly gone, torn away, tumbling helplessly end over bloody end. Visions of his death, a thousand deaths, a million deaths flooded the mind of As Nodt, breaking him in an instant as he was forced to experience the life of a man who had once been mortal, forced to live death itself, in moments. He was no longer aware of his body being torn limb from limb, of his soul being eviscerated, swallowed, absorbed into the terror that savaged him. There was only the raw terror consuming his body.

Indeed, last thing As Nodt knew before the Shinigami took him into its stomach and stole his power was thus.

_Fear._

**A/N: And I'm back at last! With a vengeance! Not really much to say this time just this; the next few chapters are going to be a wild ride! Romance! Violence! Lemons! We'll have it all! But for now I give you the destruction of the Stern Ritter incarnate! Enjoy!**

**So...in the Immortal Words of Atlas...**

**...Review...Would You Kindly? And of course, enjoy the preview!**

_(Preview)_

_Naruto grinned, staring down Bazz-B, his next victim._

_"I wonder which is stronger," he mused aloud. "Fire or Water? Shall we find out?" A wave of his hand was all it took to summon up his element, silent streamers of water rapidly gathering around him in a monsoon of his element, pure moisture sweeping down on the Stern Ritter from every angle._

_"Fuck you!" the mowhawk man snapped, flinging his arm forward! __"Burner Finger, Three!"_

_"Bankai! Yarinami no Tsukiumi!"_

R&R! =D


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